Pitworthy
XII Boar
•
March 16, 2015

Few bands in Stoner/Sludge/Doom have the ability to make it sound fresh and worth the time, without any drastic changes in the genre sound. Luckily XII BOAR (pronounced Twelve Boar) is one of them, and their debut album, "Pitworthy", kicks some serious balls and is sure to please the fans of the aforementioned genres.
The album starts with "Sharpshooter", which has a boxing match pre-match announcement as the intro part before going to the faster sound. While the guitar work by Tommy Hardrocks has fast riffs, and like most modern Stoner bands, the nasty vocals by Tommy himself, are what distinguishes the sound of XII BOAR from the sea of new breed of Sludge Stoner bands around. The heavy bass brings in a different dimension with some bass solos in the middle, and the drums by Dave Wilbraham are loud and have a nice tasty rhythm to every beat. "Young Man" starts off with an amazing fast paced stoner styled guitar work before going into a thicker sludgy riff parts. Again, both Tommy's nasty vocals and the backing vocals by Adam Thomas work in tandem and work really beautifully. Basically, XII BOAR would be the twisted love child had RED FANG and TEXAS HIPPIE COALATION had sex together! "Crushing The P" is truly a crushing Sludge song, giving exactly what you would expect before you play the song. "The Schaeffer Boogie" shows why XII BOAR is spoken so highly in the underground Doom Sludge circuit, as the band brings back stoner sound back with this song and gets it perfectly right with tasty acoustic parts thrown in the middle.
"Crawdaddy Blues", just like its name, brings in some tasty country blues with guitar strumming. It's even impressive for someone like me, who doesn't even like Blues music, it's got some cool riffs. "Chicken Hawk" brings back the heavy sound, almost a traditional Heavy Metal sound, than any aforementioned genre sounds. I feel guilty of branding every song into each sub-genre, but then I guess it's the reviewer in me over-analyzing each and every song here. The flagship song, "Rock City", has the catchiest lyrics and has equally catchy sludgy and groovy riffs, topped with some bass solos in the middle to add to the XII BOAR weird ride. The album ends with an 11:22 min "Quint" taking the listener to a fantasy ride, with its sludgy riffs drifting between mid tempo and faster riffs, as the bass, drums and the screaming vocals add perfect flavor to end the album. This song could easily have been a song for any [insert your favorite one]one of those fantasy Hollywood movies. The song does get slightly boring with the elastic style vocals in the middle, but all in all works just fine overall as a song.
It's crystal clear that XII BOAR oozes influences of MOTORHEAD, BLACK SABBATH, ORANGE GOBLIN, RED FANG, and many other similar legendary bands, but succeeds in creating a unique brand of Sludge/ Doom sound. It's worth mentioning that these Hampshire boys have what it takes to survive any trends or waves in the future. Dig this sludge to find some beauty.<
9 / 10
Almost Perfect
"Pitworthy" Track-listing:
1. Sharpshooter
2. Young Man
3. Crushing The P
4. The Schaeffer Boogie
5. Pitworthy
6. Crawdaddy Blues
7. Chicken Hawk
8. Battle Boar
9. Rock City
10. Quint
XII Boar Lineup:
Tommy Hardrocks - Guitar, Vocals
Adam Thomas - Bass, Backing vocals
Dave Wilbraham - Drums
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