Ragweed have over the last couple of years become one of Brighton’s most celebrated and exciting alternative rock bands. Almost constantly playing up and down the U.K and making regular local appearances they have built a pretty solid fan base through their hard work. Their last recording Double Chalker was an uncompromising marriage of high octane fuzz and brooding nihilism so it was with great anticipation I was handed their new pre-release album “Parerga” to rattle my senses with.
Black and Scaly is an aptly named introduction to the album. No sooner has the rattling bass guitar tickled some previously unknown part of my cerebellum the thick multi-tracked guitars burst in powered by a very bright and spacious drum sound. There is no holding back here, this sounds like everything set to ten, you can almost smell the amp valves overheating. At the same time the production of this song sets the standard for the album, very high indeed. The palette of sound could be compared to that of Jesus Lizard whilst the chugging and tuneful chorus reminded me of what the Foo Fighters sounded like before they sucked. A distinctive verse/chorus arrangement is broken up by tight yet sludgey riffs with some great stop times thrown in for good measure. This is going to be a heavy album.
The biting crisp guitar sound of Dermal Dispenser takes us somewhere slightly different than the albums opener and the understated vocals could be compared to that of Ash; sometimes getting lost in the overwhelming cacophony of crisp guitars, metallic bass and bright cymbals. It is a very strong tune and reflects well whatever the sub genre is which Ragweed have always nailed so well live.
Nip The Bud deviates the ‘Quiet Loud Quiet Loud’ paradigm by shifting it to ‘Loud Mental Loud Mental’. Tom’s disinterested vocal style in the verse leaps up to what could only be described as Frank Black passing a kidney stone the size of a tennis ball in the chorus. There is some very inventive bass guitar at work adding another dimension to the song working very nicely over a drum kit that actually sounds like it is in the room with you.
A slightly more mid-pace affair comes along next in the shape of Strange Colour. The frequent changes, large guitar sound and sonic palette contains in it traces of Smashing Pumpkins and will no doubt sound great live. The haunting reverb drenched guitar solo is a nice touch and although still menacing provides a very nice change before dropping us straight back into alternating scream/drawl chorus.
Divorce Reality is a prime example of where Ragweed sit (or rather don’t!) on the music genre spectrum. What is essentially so close to being a ‘heavy metal’ song somehow just avoids it. It simultaneously dodges the over-trodden path of clichés that might qualify it with the “nu-” (metal) prefix as well. The simple and catchy chorus makes it remarkably accessible and Tom’s vocal styles within the song help enforce the songs structure. In this sense it could be equally seen as a ‘punk rock’ but to debate it in length would be to essentially miss the point altogether.
The mixing of genre and styles is also strongly evident in Gun Fever. What begins as sounding like a an early Sub Pop record (perhaps Tad?) it evolves quickly into something far more urgently delivered. The rhythm section of the band sound glued together as the three of them belt out a filthy riff punctuated with stoccato vocals. Brittle shattered screams, chugging fuzz, brick wall stop times and tightly controlled chaos ensues before the melodic and simple chorus arrives unexpectedly. Some of the brutal riffs towards the end of the song somehow sound very “Ragweed” and yet at the same time not too distant from what Pantera might be thrashing out today, the revelation of which left me both surprised and impressed. There are enough ideas in this song for an E.P alone.
I wish that I had thought of naming a song “George Moshinton”, but I didn’t. Ragweed did.
The thundering bass starts the song like bad weather before the discordant and slightly bewildering guitars fight one another like angry drunks. The ABAB vocal delivery is Albini-esque alternating between threats and unhinged madness all sandwiched between changes thick with great drumming and the clashing of injured guitars. The bass soon leads us into the last riffs of the album, a sludge-rock dinner for eight which by then leaves me in no doubt that this is a great album and that Ragweed have some of the most exciting noisy filth anyone has to offer.
[button link=”/matt-upchuck/”]Words: Matt Upchuck[/button]
