Lords of Bastard - Lords of Bastard

Recent times have seen LoB make a name for themselves across the Central Belt with some intense stoner grooves. Sadly, this recording makes it nearly impossible to appreciate these grooves at their knee-shaking best. The drop-tuned guitars are too dry and over-present whilst the drums are too weakly captured to add the necessary thump to the relentless riffing. If it was a deliberate attempt at lo-fi retro, it hasn't paid off. With sameyness a common pitfall for even legendary stoner groups, the poor sound here sees the tracks merge into one another and, as a whole, the record grows tiresome early on. A few poorly considered, less-than-catchy vocal lines (see Quite Quiet), also don't help matters any. As live shows attest, these guys certainly have better in them. Hopefully they can learn from the weaker aspects of this LP and put those lessons towards the next. [Austin Tasseltine]