Beelzefuzz
Righteous Bloom
The Church Within Records, Restricted Release
Forty-five years after Led Zep came along we still feel a need to rock hard. This quartet does it with the skill and self-satisfaction of guys who know how to write songs and deliver the ear damaging, gut blowing sound that automatically forces your hand into devil horns and grows you hair long enough to cover your eyes. Lyrics such as “Our love in vain…cruel hands of fate…” informs “Rat Poison Parfait” and while I can’t figure out why it feels important, the pain behind those words is enough for me. A heavy plodding bass (Bert Hall) trudges along like Frodo in the mines of Moria while drummer Darin McCloskey sticks to a solid metal beat. His innovations are subtle and hard to spot but once you catch them, you can’t miss them on the next spin. Finally, dueling vocalists Dana Ort and Greg Diener each bring tears to your ears with their mournful lyrics as they take turns announcing clear and legibly what, exactly is wrong in the world. There’s a time and a place for metal in everyone’s life, and you could do far worse than hang with these guys; they’ll make you swear:” Hell, YEAH! This is MY life!” Rock on, dude. Just… rock on.
