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

The Hidden Hand – The Resurrection of Whiskey Foote / 2007 Southern Lord / 10 Tracks / http://www.thehiddenhand.com / http://www.southernlord.com /

God, I love grunge. I love bands that revel in sounding like they’ve just had sex with their Corrosion of Conformity, Helmet, and Morbid Angel albums. “Purple Neon Dream” is the first track on “The Resurrection of Whiskey Foote”, and it shows that the band loves crafting some  of the most intricate and most thought out sludge that has ever graced an oil byproduct. The tracks are oftentimes under four minutes long, and yet they feel like they are ten minute opuses.

This is due to the fact that at any one given time during tracks like “Purple Neon Dream” and “Someday Soon”. There seems to be a slightly lighter set of influences during “Dark Horizons”, but the overall sound is similar to the rest of the tracks on “The Resurrection of Whiskey Foote”. It may just be “Someday Soon” that gets The Hidden Hand more in the way of popularity, as some of the constructs and arrangements on the track are similar to that of a System of a Down or Tool. I like the fact that the band is not afraid to show their influences on their sleeve, as during the opening to “Spiritually Bereft”, the band takes on “Reign in Blood” and changes it to their own desires and wishes. During “Spiritually Bereft”, The Hidden Hand even use a little bit of a Soundgarden influence in the vocals. While the song is still their own, the influences make it a little easier to listen to the band as the transaction costs to appreciate and understand the band are lower.

The band comes throughout the entirety of “The Resurrection of Whiskey Foote” without suffering anything as a scratch. For example, the band loves to vary their sound; “Lesson” goes back to a seventies rock sound and titillates listeners with a chorus that simultaneously calls forth Dio and Led Zeppelin. The Hidden Hand consists of members from about twenty other famous acts in the hard rock and metal scene, but none of those bands deserve to be mentioned due to the effort that the band makes on “The Resurrection of Whiskey Foote”. The seventies sound continues with “Majestic Presence”, to the degree that individuals will almost wonder if the band did not just ransack some record label’s vault. The guitar line on this track is sizzling; the band has made “The Resurrection of Whiskey Foote” into an album that will stand the test of time.

Top Tracks: Majestic Presence, Lesson

Rating: 7.9/10

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