Posted on: May 3, 2009 Posted by: anfnewsacct Comments: 0

By some odd combinations of planets aligning, it seems that Brain Donor has some current relevancy, as their style of no-frills rock simultaneously tap the unsullied past of such acts like The Stooges and later retro-rock bands like The Strokes. Hell, “Like A Motherfucker” even takes the mantle of dirty, rough sludge metal away from Danzig. Instead of just willy-nilly throwing guitar licks into the mix like some newer acts (Avenged Sevenfold comes to mind), the shrill solos found on this album are actually in context and shine in construction.

To be honest, the disc’s first completely solid track comes during “Get ff Your Pretty Face”, where Brain Donor contributes en masse – all instruments have a very audible part (and some, especially the low end put forth by the bass) play a vital role in the construction of something so catchy. Especially impressive is the intricate, Matt Freeman meets Jaco Pastorius bass line of “Get Back On It”, where Doggen does more than simply provide extras to the track – in many senses of the term, ey is the driving force behind anything that goes on in the track. The drums may not get their fair share of virtuosic turns, but provide the entirety of this disc with a solid performance – the splashing of the drums, twinkling as they are during “Get Back On It” provide a good contrast to the deep end that is catered to throughout. Some of the tracks on this disc have the tendency to drag on, such as “Shaman H.F.O.” but even with that minor issue, the simple fact is that the band does try a number of different things to break out of the rut.

Many bands would just drive the same theme home for the length of the sound, but the band violently trashes around and tries their damnedest to succeed. Perhaps the most interesting innovation for Brain Donor comes during the penultimate track of this disc, “Messages”. Sludge-rock mixes with long, spacey arrangements to come up with the true epic of the disc and maintain the listener’s interest, a feat considering the near-ten minute runtime of this track. Overall, for a rock-revival band Brain Donor has done their homework and came up with a disc that accurate recreates the best of the genre without falling into irony or mere mockery of the sound (Jet comes to mind here). Truly an album for anyone who likes rock.

Top Tracks: Messages, Like A Motherfucker

Brain Donor – Brain Donor / 2005 Mister E / 9 Tracks /http://www.braindonor.org / Reviewed 23 June 2005

Rating: 7.0/10

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