Suplecs
Hymns Under A Blood Moon Sky
***and1/2 out of *****
The first album in over a decade from the New Orleans based heavy trio, Suplecs, is a collection of burly tracks that deal with tough topics such as death, divorce, suicide and addiction. Hymns Under A Blood Moon Sky may tackle overwhelming issues, but it is not despair filled as the group takes strength from their hometown, finding hope in hard times through music.
The trio of Danny Nick - Bass, Vocals, Durel Yates - Guitars, Vocals, Andrew Preen - Drums, Percussion, worked with engineer James Whitten (High On Fire, Thou) to craft their metal meets NOLA sound. The album shifts between shorter punkish outings and longer stoner rock inspired tunes as quite a few metal subgenres (and beyond) get airings.
The album opens with energetic, upbeat stampeding of "Got Nothing" which is influenced heavily by Motörhead while tracks like "Pentacle Star" and the thundering "No Apologies" are direct descendants of Black Sabbath. Those classic touchpoints flow throughout the record as the trio push and pull the angst, heavy riffage and crushing low end.
That low end kicks off with booming bass on the punk fueled "$6 Man" while the dynamic riffs fly for the spirited "Mountain" which ends with the most inventive percussion on the record, kicking up the song to another level.
Ominous riffs and sludge laden bass/drums push both the doom metal "Forest of Fire", which also uses an off-kilter, almost post punk groove, and the trudging, revenge killing, guts spilling "Damn These Pills", which unfortunately plods on too long. Vocally there is growling and angst as the singing, at times, can gets buried beneath the hard rock.
Things are not all bleak doom and gloom on the album though. "I See You" is overdriven, fuzzed up garage rock with an almost hip swinging groove while the album centerpiece "Old Spanish Trail" is a jazz influenced instrumental that moves into some beautiful sonic space.
Best of the bunch is the powerful closer "La Ti Da" which ramps up the theatricality with a brawny sound supplemented by the horns of Egg Yolk Jubilee, who add a fantastic dimension to Suplecs music; more metal meets brass tunes in the future from this combo would be wonderful.
Hymns Under A Blood Moon Sky finds Suplecs expanding their sound with success as the heavy music gets them through difficult times in life.
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