Raise the Red Lantern Breathe Fire

This Raise the Red Lantern record has made me realize that I see a lot more stoner bands nowadays than ever before - maybe it's because I'm getting older, or maybe there's been some other catalyst for the development. It's not like you can find Eyehategod or old Neurosis records at Hot Topic. Clearly it's not mall metal neophytes jumping on a band wagon. Maybe the genre has just been getting more exposure Maybe Relapse is responsible I have no idea. But, really, I don't mind the phenomenon. A lot of these bands, Raise the Red Lantern included, show immense potential and a ton of creativity. The Chicago four-piece comes out with dirty, gritty, sweaty punk rock that's everything you'd expect from the windy city. There aren't cookie cutter formulas, but there are loud guitars and as much hair as a Slayer show. There's just nothing timid about it. And I think that's what it boils down to - intensity. A lot of bands throw around their influences pretentiously, either ripping them off in homage or are nothing but an amalgamation of different bands within the same genre. It's like if you write a riff, it has to end up on the album because their musically palette is finite (and pretty weak). Unfortunately for these bands it sucks and feels devoid of that crucial sort of inspiration and momentum really great albums capture. And I'm going to argue this is a damn fine album. The title track sets up with some pretty straight forward stoner rock - albeit with a catchy melodic guitar lead interlaced throughout the background. At this point I was pretty sure to know what to expect from the rest of the record; but I was mistaken.While there is an abundance of sludgy, down-trodden riffs there is also a lot of guitar work reminiscent of something like "Fuck With Fire"-era Planes Mistaken for Stars. It's surprising that these guys actually use a second guitar player for something besides another amp. Like on "Swallow this Swell," while the rest of the band lumbers in on a war-drum charge, one of the guitars is actually playing some leads. While it's unimpressive to describe, it's definitely something that grabs a lot of attention, and something most bands don't even bother to consider. Then there's the depressive "Descent from Babylon" with some intense staccato chugging that fleshes out the heavily crust-influenced oppression of the rest of the song. And despite the standard stoner drumming being restrained, if not sparse, these guys go full blast ninety-percent of the time. It amazed me how much more engaging this made the whole album. I never once lose attention in its forty-plus minutes. And, deviating once more from expectations, Raise the Red Lantern uses a vocalist that's as far from a growl as John Fogerty is from Ozzy Osbourne. It's a sort of hoarse yell that's almost entirely enunciated - how's that for weird On the production side, the record is dense as hell. The bass on the album, despite the fact that it's mostly fuzzed out, carries the album in some of the "softer" spots, so it never loses any momentum. So, kudos to Stan Wood. Bottom Line: If you like dive bars with unattractive men in their later twenties playing the shit out of a Sunn head, this could be your ticket. These guys have the sort of no-bullshit ethic that punk and metal were built on, and I'm going to have to say it doesn't get much better than this. Think Harkonen playing out of High on Fire's equipment after listening to No Idea's catalog. Ugly, drunk, staggering, and pissed.