Ever
hear the first Black Sabbath record, where the opening
song has that little three note riff, you know, daaah,
dun, daaaaa, the song that started the whole stoner, sludge
rock craze that spawned such notables as the Melvins, Jerusalem,
and Queens of the Stone Age…well the HBLM…cool,
fitting name, starts their first EP release with Pavement,
the same way, with some cool, creepy, psychedelic Moog
sounds thrown in for good measure. Slow, heavy and trance-like,
with vocals that sound like they are being screamed through
a mega-phone for the first three minutes or so and then
into this repetitive groove, splashed with cool lyrics
about being face down in the pavement and oil and gasoline
and of course getting high…it’s like the high
school bathroom with your stoner friends all over again.
The first tune culminates with a superb solo from Roger
with some cool whammy bar work, not far away from early
Yo La Tengo. This song is my favorite cut.
The second song, In the Thick is another slow, sonic sludge with an interesting
phased guitar part, that develops into a faster riff over a guitar solo,
then slows back down again and speeds up with this kind of jam and then
slows back down. Reminiscent of Funhouse-era Stooges, of course with
a cool stoner-type groove.
The third cut Return to the Unknown follows a similar formula, while
the fourth song, Loner has a more driving, punk rock type of feel, although
the vocals retain that screamed, monotonous type of tone.
The last cut, Burning Man Blues, picks up where Loner left off with a
driving punk type feel to an actual sing along type of chorus "Here
where the smoke will rise…" and cool guitar harmonics in the
background.
This record was actually recorded in an Amsterdam studio, after a night
of toad licking and beer drinking and other substance abuse, the type
where the engineer hits record and the feel of the record is true stoner-groove
type of rock…well actually it was recorded in Buffalo at Watchmen
Studio by Doug White, who actually seems to have a lot of business for
the heavier Erie bands.
Overall a strong debut from this band. Metal enough for the metal folk,
but unlike a lot of metal bands, there are other influences in play here,
power pop and punk come through in cuts like Burning Man Blues and Loner,
while the swirling psychedelics of the Moog and the phased guitar of
Pavement bring to mind bands like Sonic Youth and Bardo Pond.
They have definitely carved out a niche, especially in Erie where there
aren’t many bands like them out there. What this reviewer would
like to hear in the future, is more experimenting with sonics, feedback,
Moog, and effects and a concentration on a vocal hooks and melodies to
help pull the listener into the heavy cerebral trip that is the Human
Being Lawnmower.
The packaging for this EP is in the "home brew" category with
a CD-R disc and self produced computer graphics.
For more info visit the Human
Being Lawnmower page here on PlayErie.com. - review
by John Johnston
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