Posted on: July 18, 2007 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

Alice Donut – Fuzz / 2007 Howler / 12 Tracks / http://www.alicedonut.com / http://www.howlerrecords.com /

I had known of Alice Donut for quite a few years, and their cover of “War Pigs” is one of my favorite covers of all times. However, I did not know what their sounded like beyond that. “Madonna’s Bombing Sarajevo” is the first track on the CD, and it blends together the strung out sounds of “Deliverance”-era Corrosion of Conformity with Jane’s Addiction. There are hints of metal present during this track as well, which will give individuals a great introduction to the diverse style of Alice Donut.

The introductory track goes on for a spry 7 and a half minutes, but rather than making Alice Donut feel repetitious and tired after the introductions are complete, it gives individuals a nice little package for how the band sounds. “Little Monkey” is the second track on the disc, and it shows further that the band is able to make something cohesive and coherent despite using a panoply of styles and approaches to create the music that is on “Fuzz”. The multiple layers that Alice Donut imbue their tracks with allow for the band to come up with some noisy, chaotic lines on one side of the track while having a catchy, almost pop-punk (in the vein of the Ramones) back and forth with the vocals.

The band gets into a very cohesive, coherent groove with the back to back tracks “Little Monkey” and “The Unnoticed Fall”. The tracks are both energetic and are catchy, but are sufficiently different from each other to keep the momentum of the disc strong and the band succeeding on “Fuzz”. However, it may just be “Days Away” that is the best track on the disc. This is due to the fact that Alice Donut create such a happy and hopeful track in the context of “the wake of a friend”, which is also the subtitle for the track. The band even approaches the sound of a Flogging Molly during this track, while still keeping the Jane’s Addiction-like sound as a major component to their overall approach. The disc ends well before the hour mark, but the layered composition and dense arrangements of Alice Donut on “Fuzz” make this album feel three or four times as long (in the best possible way, of course). “Fuzz” is a perfect introduction to Alice Donut, and will operate (like it did with me) as an album to get individuals into the allure that is this long-time band.

Top Tracks: Carolina, The Unnoticed Fall

Rating: 7.3/10

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