The Deal: Charlotte groove rock quartet – Justin Babcock (drums), Greg Dalton (guitar), Alex Giles (keys) and Jeff Lewis (bass) – gets ready to independently release debut album, Black Maria.
The Good: There’s an interesting balance in the tunes – distorted guitars with some keyboard riffs dropped in behind it highlight the opening track, “Watch It Burn,” for some kind of amalgam between Alice in Chains-style metal and Iron Butterfly-era psychedelia. “People” and “Fog” open with some Anastasio-style riffing leading into a jazz groove. The songs mostly run longer than five minutes, so you better dig in before listening – three clock in around 10 minutes.
The Bad: While the vocals aren’t the strongest, they serve more of a purpose to lead the song from groove to riff or from jam to the next groove. They offer a sense of balance between the variety of styles. “The Example” had ’70s style to it and the falsetto threw me off a bit, but I still give them credit for mixing up their sound while keeping the disc’s sound cohesive as a whole.
The Verdict: The 12 tracks clock in at more than an hour and 10 minutes … So if you like what you hear, you’ll get plenty of it. The band’s music has the diversity to catch the attention of jam fans as well as those who appreciate a harder edge. Catch the CD release show on April 16 at the Double Door Inn.
This article appears in Apr 13-19, 2010.
