I presume the name of this Phoenix rumbling machine is pronounced ‘Twin Giant’, rather than being some bizarre moniker for someone who suffers sudden painful episodes [you mean like Twinge-ee-unt? That’d be odd… Phonetics Ed]. A somewhat irrelevant point, you say? Maybe, but none more so than certain passages of its sophomore full-length Devil Down (Medusa Crush).
That said, there’s a neat line in southern-infused stoner here, with luscious, howling lead solos a la Vulgaari‘s Brett Hedtke to boot. Delightfully-named opener ‘Old Hag’ is a languid yet moody beginning, all ‘stoner meets The Doors-in-the-Mojave, the dust getting right into a grainy production which completely suits the feel, some seriously chunky riffs planting the coda deep in the sand. Former Black Hell vocalist Jarrod Leblanc’s whisky-soaked growl rails over the more up tempo ‘Dead to Rights’, which carries something of the bloated stodge associated with the genre but is enlivened by some fascinating lead and rhythm work. Meanwhile, some plundering bass work from Leblanc sets up the ripping ‘Daisy Cutter’, a barrelling pace combining 70s suvvern rawk with the inhospitable wastelands of a desert storm and a moody, howling centrepiece.
So, it’s not to say the album’s terrible, but the main accusation frequently levelled at this sort of stuff is that it too often sounds like an easy Sunday afternoon jam session at your local rock pub; a little lazy, like your lovable Dad with his middle-age spread (hiya Girls), and not a little dated. Despite some swelling riffs and crushing power, those deficiencies appear throughout the aptly-titled ‘Through the Motions’; while the jerky, Allman-infused ‘Under a Blood Moon’, despite occasionally stirring the emotions, threatens to get going yet never really makes it. In a disappointing ending, only a sludgy vocal and the brief explosion of a pounding riff rescue the closing title track from utter tedium.
That said, this does, at times, rip, those driving riffs sounding like a firing engine with groove-laden, trippy leads dancing all over ‘Tiger Lily’. It’s a warm, heavy sound which isn’t for everyone, but evokes welcome memories of days gone by and will certainly get a gasoline party going.
6.0/10
PAUL QUINN
