ALBUM REVIEW: The Burden of Restlessness – King Buffalo
KING BUFFALO have been on a streak of productivity this past year. After the 2020 release Dead Star, the Rochester trio have ploughed on and are set to release three records this year, the first of which comes by the name of The Burden Of Restlessness.
A smooth start with Burning sets the scene, with good groove and nice inflections from the bass. Things build into a heavy, sweaty tension very quickly, and it’s evident that KING BUFFALO still have a good bite to go with their brand of psych, blues rock.
Hebetation is also a lot of fun, plenty of nostalgic vocals balanced with layered melodies. The synth adds a lot here, breaking up the motion of the same drum groove when the guitars are at a lower register. This kind of ambience is nice, and suits the four-minute run time. The lyrical output is as to the point as ever, and the angst of men in their thirties carries through with as much sentiment as that of younger men.
We get into the trippy spots of KING BUFFALO with the delay heavy Locusts, where the echoing bounce feels urgent as well as paced and distant. The synth adds a certain majesty, as the bellowing guitars roll in, bending and calling out in a tension building middle section. Another track that has lots of sweet spots, but at over the six-minute mark, it might lose some people in its synthy, wavy formula.
Silverfish comes in with low tempo energy, smooth and refined, and teeming with potential ideas. It’s a fairly light and inoffensive tune until its chucky latter half, with some real weight towards the end, without ever losing what it started out as.
There’s plenty of funk on offer with Grifter too, a menacing rumble of a track that doesn’t veer off from its root beat, but takes off in off shoots of pure rock. Shining guitars scream, the bass rolls over and the drums confidently swagger through, carrying the whole piece. The contract of the vocals here always works well, and it’s another solid chunk of a song.
The Knocks keeps up a good pumping, menacing groove that despite the monotony of the same beat going on for six or seven minutes, it’s got plenty to offer in that time in those rhythms to keep a sway. Its final moments are glorious guitars that step into post rock territory, bleeding the heavy with the ambient.
Closer Loam has a pretty, delay driven start with the classic vocal and synth combo working a treat to add some nostalgia and a pressing feeling of lucidity. When that all important guitar crooning comes in, the deft hands that meld solo to main tune do a decent job. However, the dip back into ambient after each peak in this track does feel like we’re teetering towards the end, rather than throwing everything at one last big moment.
If you like your psych-rock subtle and mellow, The Burden Of Restlessness is the album for you this summer. While the bulk appears simple, there’s nuances aplenty on offer here, each track being a hefty chunk of fuzz mixed with delay heavy melodies. There’s a structure that KING BUFFALO like to follow for sure, and while there’s no bad tune on this record, there could be some more innovation from that formula to really turn heads.
Rating: 7/10
The Burden Of Restlessness is out now via Stickman Records.
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