Many admirers of '80s-era
indie rock
will always consider
Dinosaur Jr.
to be toward the top of the heap -- thanks to such classic releases as 1987's
You're Living All Over Me
and 1988's
Bug
. However, guitarist
J Mascis
always was a classic rocker at heart -- his melodic yet fuzzy solos were equal parts
Neil Young
and
Ace Frehley
. So it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that
Mascis
' early-21st century side project
Witch
could easily be mistaken for a
heavy metal
release -- in the
Black Sabbath
mold. The only thing is,
does not play guitar on their 2006 self-titled debut, as he returns to his first instrument, drums. But
assembled quite a rockin' cast around him -- his longtime pal
Dave Sweetapple
(bass), as well as
Kyle Thomas
(vocals) and
Asa Irons
(guitar) from the New England-based "
avant
folk
" band
Feathers
. What you get is an incredibly raw,
doom metal-esque
release (certainly not the kind of "modern-day
metal
" you'll find on
MTV
or radio), which is chock-full of simply ripping leads from
Irons
. As with most bands of this genre, tight song structures take a back seat to demonic-sounding jams, including such standouts as the album opening
"Seer"
"Hand of Glory"
-- the latter of which kicks off with a riff that sounds as if it's processed through a transistor radio.
Doom metal
fans will certainly approve of
's self-titled debut, and will probably be shocked to learn that the longtime leader of
is keeping the beat. ~ Greg Prato