The Pacific Northwest is practically the home of the US metal these days. Stoner-Rock and the long standing doom movement in the area has been enjoying a killer few years and it has been exciting to watch the growth of certain acts. Black Pussy is one of those bands that sprouted from a seedling and have become a fully-fledged member of the fraternity in their own right. Their new album Magic Mustache (Made In China Records) is a testament to that fact with track after of catchy, rocking tunes with just enough weird quotient to take them further.

Front man Dustin Hill is really the straw that stirs the drink with his taste for almighty riff, tons of trippy psychedelic references, and a wry lyrical sense. Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd, Pentagram, and Goblin spring to mind right away as touch points. The grooves are thick and copious, and even though they get mentioned a lot with hometown homeboys Red Fang, Black Pussy is cut even more from the cloth of Kyuss and the lineage of bands from 60s. Tracks like ‘Let’s Start A War’, ‘Into Your Cosmic’, ‘Protopipe’ arrive with major jammage and have a classic feel to them immediately without falling into histrionics to get your attention. The entire album is dotted with tons of hummable licks and dope solos for the guitar nerds to drool over. Keith “Chief” O’Dell’s fun keyboard work will put a smile on your face to go with your dry-mouth. None of the tracks seem to overstay their welcome, rather Dustin and his cohorts like to say what they want to say, and split.

One of the marks of a really good album is that singles are strong (‘For the Sake of Argument’ in particular), but the album cuts are better. Black Pussy is a band that has been cultivating their sound for a long time and Magic Mustache is the culmination of their hard work. Time to spark it up!

8.0

KEITH CHACHKES