Electric Wizard - Let Us Prey

2002

Similar to earlier Electric Wizard albums but the riffs are not as ugly or awesome. They hammer some riffs into the ground which is all fine, but by the time he gets to the wah wah it should be over, but it's not.

Tummler - Early Man

2002

Post Kyuss,post Grunge super thick hard rock. Sound like 70's Aerosmith playing underwater.

Reverend Bizarre - In The Rectory Of Reverend Bizarre

2002

Big heavy huge plodding in the most 70's Sabbath kind of way. Vocals like Bobby Liebling/Pentagram with the sincerity of King Diamond. Awesome. Doom! Big heaviness that's reminiscent of early Melvins albums. Long Long drawn out heaviness only matched by Electric Wizards' extended fits. I think there's more of a payoff at the end with Reverend Bizarre. Six songs 74 minutes. A modern day doom metal classic.
Pure.

Bongzilla - Gateway

2002

I love Bongzilla. They're big and huge like High on Fire (for the rockin' hugeness) or Electric Wizard (for the drag it out riff a rama to death). Bongzilla was meant to be seen live. Because they were more about the feeling. The feeling of huge heavy and huge. Sabbath type riffs. This one production wise is the best CD they put out. Screechy screamy horse screamin' vocals. Always. I like this kind of music a lot. I don't revisit this CD too much though. If you like it big and heavy this is a must hear. It's big heavy chugging is so memorable you forget that some of these songs are pretty fast and remain just as huge.

Bongzilla MySpace

The Melvins - Hostile Ambient Takeover

2002

The production on this CD is light years ahead of the previous three Melvins albums. The weirdness factor is pretty high, relatively speaking. Pretty much straight forward metal as far as the Melvins go. Things have a messed up feel. A good documentation of the Rutmanis era Melvins. Strong album. Top ten Melvins for sure. The best since Stoner Witch. The Melvins must like this one too. Larges chucks of this album have been featured in their live set since it came out. I bet they were playing the whole thing when it came out.

Place Of Skulls - Nailed

2002

Killer guitar sound on this recording. Mid paced Stoner/Doomy music. Seventies rock feel with really heavy modern day production. I like this CD, but it lacks aggression. It's heavy music that's cool but doesn't get pissed. I wish it did. That would push it over the top. Quality soulful stuff.

Superjoint Ritual - Use Once And Discard

2002

First song is a couple minute instrumental intro. Then, all hell breaks lose. Hide the furniture. Phil Anselmo, so the vocals are all just like Pantera. Jimmy "Riff McMaster" Bower on guitar. This is extreme groove thrash. Really good. As good as Sewn Mouth Secrets era Solient Green. Slick production. No matter how extreme things get they always retain the groove. A whirlwind. They could have trimmed a few songs off of this monster and had a near metal masterpiece. Instead they went for quantity. Still pretty solid throughout.