EP REVIEW: Brass Owl – Brass Owl
BRASS OWL are a band that look up to, and evoke, some of the giants of classic rock. Amongst their influences, they count bands like CREAM, ZZ TOP and LED ZEPPELIN, just to name a few. The music on their self-titled debut EP, is far from innovative or unique, but it’s not meant to be. This is three guys paying homage to their idols, and doing an incredibly good job in the process.
The first track on this EP, State of Mind, is a great, groove driven track with an excellent drum line and pulsing bass hooks, with some great guitar licks and soulful vocals soaring over the top of everything. Musically, its influences are clearly deeply rooted in 70s hard rock like CREAM, with a few psychedelic flourishes embellishing the guitar solo with some powerful, robust distorted passages. It’s an incredibly good way to kick this EP off, and showcases the height of the level of musicianship we can expect from the rest of the record.
Land Shark has plenty of great bluesy guitars, fluid and impressive drums and some brilliant vocals, which prove to be one of the best components of this track. They’re imbued with genuine passion and sounding truly epic, pulling the listener in right off the bat. The song shifts from energetic and intense performances through to much more sublime and subdued ones, and manages to fit of lot of cool ideas into it’s relatively brief running time.
Spirit Song is a hazy, catchy song that blends hard rock swagger with some bluegrass style guitar lines that helps make this song stand out from the rest. Both the guitars and the vocals really make the song, with some powerful, intricate drumming providing a solid base for the rest of the song to be built around. It proves to be one of the best tracks on this EP, and showcases a great attitude that it’s hard not to get drawn into. Mushroom Sally, the fourth and final track on the record, is a dark, slow burning track that starts with some very measured and subdued guitar playing and drum beats, which gradually slides into a track that feels almost like one single, monolithic jam. There’s some genuinely imaginative and varied guitar playing on here, ranging from straight up riffing through to experimental used of distortion that takes this song into the realms of space rock and psychedelia, without completely abandoning it’s classic eock roots. It’s an amazing track to close this EP on, and definitely leaves the listener wanting more.
As far as debut records go, this is excellent from BRASS OWL. Every single song sounds different from the others, not only showcasing what the band are capable of, but also making each song feel like a stand out track in its own right. MUSHROOM SALLY, in particular, shows a lot of promise, and it would be great to see the band explore this side of their sound on future records, because it really does sound brilliant. They are clearly wearing their influences, from BLACK SABBATH to LYNRD SKYNRD, on their sleeves, but there is also a nucleus for their own sound and style there as well, and with any luck, if they continue writing and recording music of this calibre, they will eventually be discussed in the same breath as their idols.
Rating: 8/10
Brass Owl is out now via self-release.
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