King Buffalo - Orion
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
TRACK by track
Orion- Shine on you crazy diamond sounding opening riffs followed by the lead singer coming in with some sweet Ozzy Osbourne style vocals singing about stars. Bass line melody absolutely rips, drums spank hard. Great opener to get you in the mood to get weird.
Monolith - Opens with that eerie guitar distortion we got on the opening track but its got more of a “dirty, dusty road” vibe here. Best part of this track is how visual it is: you absolutely feel the anxiety and tension right from the get go:
Its a cold night on a secluded road in the desert, our car just ran out of gas but somewhere off in the distance the headlights of an oncoming semi-truck slices through the darkness. Do we ask for a lift?
As the first verse ends and the drums are taping the thumps of tires crushing sand and rocks as they carry a musty cab-over towards civilization, were squirming in the passenger seat wondering if the mysterious trucker who offered us assistance is... perhaps inebriated by downers and truck stop whiskey? The synths doing that 'WHOOOOOOMPH...WHAAAAAAAZZZ" thing with the filter seems to confirm our fear... were going to end up the subject of a true crime podcast one day? A crappy one at that... (this track is fantastic! Listen to it and I GUARANTEE you what you just read will make sense!)Sleeps On A Vine- “Pink Sabbath” reminds me so much of Pink Floyd’s “meddle” but the singers dead ringer “Tenor Ozzy Osbourne” voice elevates this so much, cool guitar solos and the guitar and bass trading off driving the melodies and solos at the end was great. So much reverbbbbb…b…..b……b!
Kerosene - I want to melt into that opening bass riff! Buttery smooth, hit me with that reverb syrup from the guitar and sprinkle on some Zozzy Wozzy vocals… this is the best song on the album. Im all in on King B after this one, you hit the refrain and it crushes so hard with the melodic vocals against this sleazy bass groove and fluttering guitar flourishes followed immediately by all that beautiful tension disappearing and leaving us with the bass getting even danker, making us feel like we need to take a shower… then POW! We’re good again! It’s pretty again! HAHAHAHAHA Were not going to die right??! RIGHT?!? We’re leery but we’re dancing a little bit… before we slip back into the mud and the bass player is giving us the side eye saying “oh you thought that last riff was nasty? Hold on to your drawers because we’re about to get NAAAAAAAAAASTAY!” This song absolutely rips, start here if you dont want to listen to the whole thing but want to get a little taste.
Down From Sky - Opens on a pretty acoustic arpeggio punctuated by somber vocals singing about oil and water dancing... they sure do. Somebody died and now the song adds in some kick drum and the melody shifts... it builds and continues to do so as we feel the sun rising over that hill ahead of us on this country road. Great track, a little less interesting than the others weve heard so far but it shows these Bison have some range.
These guys play burning man, you assumed that about ten minutes into the record but I googled it just to confirm and indeed, they play the shit out of burning man and this song smells the way I imagine burning man smells… This song fucking rules!Goliath Parts 1+2 - Whoa! Calm down guys! A two part song? ON YOUR FIRST ALBUM?? That’s a bold statement of intent usually preserved for your difficult album much later in your career. I’m willing to give it a try though…
Part 1: It’s ok… this one kind of disappointed me. If you are going to do a multi part song epic it needs to have some intent behind it and I wasn’t feeling it here. It has some Clutch sounding grooves but serves as an instrumental interlude to the actual show which is:
Part 2: YEEEEEEAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH! This one rips hard! Crunchy distortion on the guitar and the singer absolutely lets loose on this one! Doesnt tie back to part 1 in any way but I mean... whatever. You guys are artsy we get it.Orion Subsiding - We are back to grooving! Love the drum swells that rip through the pretty guitar chords in the opening riff. I kept waiting for this song to let loose and it keeps teasing you, we get a little build in the chorus but it always slinks back to the familiar groove established at the beginning.
Drinking For The River Rising - Alright, last song... were going to burn this barn down right? ....right?! We open on some ambient synths with the singer giving us some melodic vocal lines, going up and down and then we FINALLY get to the big break, and it hits hard but... for the last track I wanted more to really seal deal and tell me who is the REAL King Buffalo and while there are some great hooks here, it is all over the place. I dont know, I wanted to vibe with this one but couldnt get there. This track feels to much like the stereotypical “stoner rock jam” and is at odds with the rest of the album. Not bad by any means but it’s the weaker track off of an otherwise killer album.
