Trippy Wicked - Lowering The Tone [EP]

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July 3, 2009, 04:48 PM

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This is awful, just plain awful. As a self proclaimed fan of most forms of stoner/doom/drone metal I feel I am more than qualified to view this collection subjectively and there is nothing here that hasn't been done before hundreds of times over and hundreds of times better. The guitars have a real meaty crunch to them and the lo-fi production (recorded live I'm informed) suits the style but the vocalist sounds like a severely drunken Ozzy Ozbourne who is almost always off-key and the drums might as well not be there.

I understand stoner/doom rock is meant to create a foreboding atmosphere, but 'Lowering The Tone' isn't engaging, inventive or even listen-able enough to warrant deeper analysis. Trippy Wicked conjure up an intensely boring atmosphere which had me looking at my watch half way through the first song.

Bands such as Orange Goblin, Electric Wizard, Neurosis and especially Earth and Sunn 0))) have proven over the years that music this sonically deep can also provide us with emotional resonance but here the recycled riffs and strained, unpleasant vocals leave a lot to be desired. It's not until closing track 'Because of Euph' that we finally get to see some potential and ambition in Trippy Wicked with a muted French Horn providing a suitably haunted refrain. The horn has been used once previously on 'I Wanna Leave' but on that track it simply comes across as a gimmick.

All in all this is a pretty redundant record, the guitars are effective in parts and the horns add a fresh twist in the few moments they are actually used but everything else stinks to high heaven.

1. I Wanna Be
2. Hang em High
3. The Water Can Make Us Clean
4. I Wanna Leave
5. Sea Shanty
6. Evil
7. Because of Euph

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