Grass | FRESH GRASS
Family Average: 4/7
Here it is folks. Anticipation has been growing for years and years. Finally the day has arrived. It is time for the family to come face to face with GRASS! This Brooklyn Based doom-metal outfit has got me all hyped up. Just read the beginning of that intro again. They have got me sounding like some kind of monster truck commercial. How can I help myself really? The energy is so darn infectious. Okay enough dawdling lets get down to some reviews.
Look below and see what the family had to say.
I was won over by the very first “Yeauuuhhhh”. Fresh Grass is the perfect album to paint the side of your legendary van to. We are talking some classic wizard shooting lightning out of their hands at some kind of monster. You know darn well what kind of mural I am talking about. The kind that causes constant bottlenecking on the highway as thousands of cars slow down to bask in it’s shimmering glory.
It is safe to say I enjoyed this album quite a bit. It treads down the familiar path that many other porto-metal, heavy metal, and doom metal bands have in the past. That being said nothing about this album feels tired or disingenuous. It is clear that This band has heaps of love for bands like Black Sabbath, and Sleep. Their passion for the music that inspires them is infectious. By the end of it you will be ripping the sleeves off your denim jacket, and crushing a beer on the floor. I apologize for the excessive use of imagery in this review. It is hard not to bring it up though because this album conjures such vivid imagery in my mind.
May have something to do with the lyricism. Majority of the songs consist lyrics of apocalyptic scenes, and mayhem.
Being the fuzz loving weirdo I am, I would have kind have preferred the album indulge in a little more noise nonsense. That being said I also do have to respect how consistently clean they kept it, and I understand not everybody likes 12 minute intros to songs comprised of distortion. Much love my Grassy Goddesses.
6/7
Fresh Grass by Grass does a good job of setting you up for what to expect and then delivering it. It puts one in mind of the aesthetic of the dusty, open roads of midwest America as viewed upon a motorcycle.
“Amnesia / My Wall” sets the tone for the album, kicking off right away with that heavy, hard, slightly country rock. It’s not the livewire kind, not head banging so much as bobbing in acknowledgement. The bpms for the songs are on the slow side slow, but they still manage to go hard. There’s a distortion on the guitar sound, but all the other instruments remain unaffected which helps the sound maintain some clarity and not get muddled. The vocals are absent from the first half of “Amnesia / My Wall” (I’m guessing it’s part of the change to “My Wall.”) The singer has that back of the throat sound to it, like more country-inspired or ballad rock singers. The lyrics are usually about recounting some kind of fall to ruin with an air of acceptance and observation. They don’t vary the sound and inflection too much, but when they did it was noticeable so I think mixing it up a bit would be worth a shot to try. Once all the elements of the band are mixed together it evokes a sorta late 80s rock vibe like Nirvana.
The strongest of the songs I would say is “Black Clouds.” The synth or distorted guitar or whatever that is in the beginning of the song somehow evokes “black clouds” as a feeling. It also has a pretty sick guitar solo in the middle. “Fire” was probably the weakest. It had merit, but it just wasn’t engaging and didn’t vary enough to stand out. I actually didn’t realize it was over until the next song started.
When the last song came on, I found myself thinking “This song sounds like it wears a leather jacket and rides a motorcycle.” Turns out the track is “Easy Rider” so it looks like they nailed that feeling. But it has somewhat of the same problem as “Fire”, just not to the same degree. Voice is kind of flat, like I can hear that he’s changing it up in volume and such but it still feels meh most of the time. And the instrumentals could use some more changeups.
This album roots itself deep into the doom rock genre, and as such its got a solid sound. But it needs a bit of shaking up in order to stand out.
5/7
To be fair, while listening to this Serge was simultaneously sawing up shelves and I am sniffling and coughing on the couch. So maybe, Grass and their aptly named EP, Fresh Grass didn’t stand a chance. It’s funny that they found it appropriate to title anything that they are churning out “fresh” when this genre has been sitting in the fridge since Adam Sandler still played opera man on Weekend Update.
No amount of beer shot combos could keep me in the bar these fellas happened to be occupying. Not to be a typical basic bitch, but “It’s not you, Grass, it’s me.” I think there was one time when I was high that I put this genre on and understood it. One time. In a bathroom somewhere in college. Ever since, it just does nothing for me. Trying to get me into this genre is like trying to get Kevin to volunteer at the soup kitchen with Maggie—shit’s just never gonna happen man.
And the pedals don’t help. Maybe if you’re high out of your damn mind that sounds cool, but chances are, nobody in the bar wants to hear you “noodle”. Sorry, I don’t care for the use of pedals unless it absolutely adds something. That’s three strikes, you’re out Grass.
2/7