Loverman appear to be one of those bands you have to 'get' to really enjoy and for the most part I just don't get it.

Crucifiction is an enjoyable enough slice of down-tuned scuzz rock with suitably perverse lyrics ("let's play crucifixion, you be the body and I'll be the cross") and the guitars sound like they've been fed through an army of big muffs (their pedals don't you know!). However there is a downside to this approach in that everything besides the guitars are mixed low and barely register, so much so that they almost cease to matter. This wouldn't be a problem if there was anything even remotely interesting about the fretwork or the underlying vocals but besides a few late-to-the-game ambient effects (which sound to me totally unnecessary) there's nothing beneath the bluster.

This kind of sludge-core rock can work wonderfully when treated with a lighter touch (see Nirvanas recently re-released debut album 'Bleach' for proof) but here Loverman seem to have adopted a 'more is more' stance to cover up their song-writing deficit.

The B-side essentially consists of a riff recorded at normal speed then sped up so you have to switch your record player to 33 1/3 rpm to hear it as intended. This kind of gimmickry is pretty indicative of how I feel about the band. Forced and monotonous. The riffs are powerful at times and the weather-beaten, Mark Lanegan esque vocals of the front-man manage to convey a good balance of melody and aggression. But, after 3 or 4 spins and once you start to see past the grime there's really nothing there.

The weakest of the Young & Lost singles club bunch which overall has been an excellent find for me this week.