Aussie band MOTHERSLUG's second EP (self-titled, "Trippin' On Evil" edition) is a bona fide smorgasbord of doom-stoner music throughout the ages. Come my friends, dance with the naked chimp, in we go! So the EP sports much of what makes doom-stoner so cool. Heavy guitars, heavy drums, half-screaming vocals, and the fuzz... oh, the fuzz. Very cool riffs naturally act as the main conveyor belt through which these guys will disassemble your brain - and these go from extremely heavy and slow to more bluesy- groovy tunes. All of them are fine and all of them are cool, but these guys don't just ride the riffs into oblivion. Very cool leads turn up throughout - either atmospheric subtle ones or full on stomp-the-guitar hey-ho-here-we-go solos - wonderfully done (and great tone, too!). The guitar work in general puts me in mind of several bands, from KYUSS to BLACK SABBATH and many others, even HENDRIX and BUZZER - standing on the shoulders of these giants, you can see pretty far indeed.

Vocals are heavy and of the scream-y variety (as opposed to the chant-y variety - we have plenty of those in these little musical niche of ours and apparently little else) - remind me of our forefathers KYUSS circa "Wretch".  As for rhythm - on cue, on time, immensely heavy and huge - everything a rhythm section should be, in other words. You've probably noticed that I named-dropped roughly a metric ton of bands these guys remind me of. That is because, sadly, although they sound great, the band is still mostly reminiscent of other bands rather than complete in its own sound. Wearing your influences on your sleeve is a virtue I wish more musicians had the balls to embrace - but at some point those influences have to merge and create something that's yours. To quote LOVECRAFT (the real one, not the band), "There are my "Poepieces" and my "'Dunsany Pieces" -but alas-where are any "Lovecraft" pieces?"

Although they still very obviously need to develop as a band, these folks have amazing potential - and I can't wait for the moment they'll fuse themselves into something unique.<