Asteroid/Blowback
Split
Fuzzorama Records
In case it wasn't totally obvious from the cover art, this is a heavy slab of fuzz-heavy stoner-rock. Two bands, six songs each, a grand total of just over 60 minutes of music. Since I consider Black Sabbath to be the greatest band ever, I can def get into this, but since I also tend to prefer later Ozzy-era Sabbath ("Sabbath bloody sabbath", "Sabotage" and yes, even "Never say die"), I'm kinda lukewarm on this disc. As with most stoner-rock, this stuff leans much more heavily on early Sabbath - all bludgeoning power chords and heavy doom'n'gloom atmosphere. I can dig it, but it's also been done to death and doesn't touch upon all the other reasons that made Sabbath so amazing. Trouble figured it out with "Manic frustration". It can be done. So before I run my mouth off with a treatise on my favorite band, let me leave it at this: Asteroid and Blowback are good bands. This is a good CD. Just not great.
- Avi Roig