Review Summary: A baby mastodon fights through a huge ball of fire, getting high on the fire that risks burning him!
Vancouver Canucks (not the N.H.L team morons) Bison B.C have taken their name from a powerful beast that once roamed the western prairies in great numbers. Much like the band Mastodon, who took their name from the all mighty prehistoric creature that symbolically represents the sound of their thunderous metal gallop, Bison B.C. do much the same with their name as well. The comparisons don’t stop there though. Bison B.C. finds their sophomore album
Quiet Earth sounding like they’ve taken a few notes from Mastodon’s sound as well. Opting for a more crunchy noise in the vein of High on Fire and the groove and swagger of Entombed’s post
Clandestine era albums, these groovy/thrash/ stoner new comers make the rehash sound refreshing again.
Primitive Emptiness of Outer Space begins with a trudging riff that builds into an array of monster riffs that just keep coming (like listening to a Matt Pike jam out), the band quickly switches gears, sounding more like the Black Sabbath flag wavers The Sword with a simple but effective blast of melody. Dark Towers’ quickly fly’s into a dirty punk-rock rhythm section with a nice touch of
Leviathan inspired riffing and finally charging (whatever the hell Bison do) into one head smashing riff after another. Smoking a few joints and getting deeper into the disc will reveal a formula that follows suit to these two songs, but with a few added surprises. Like how Mastodon injected groovy, stoner like passages into Leviathan, Bison does this with confidence. Just listen to ‘These Are My Dress Clothes’ and the album-stealer instrumental ‘Medication’ for a good taste of riffs that help project the songs into off-coarse directions.
To be quite honest (as much as your neck will hurt after giving this a listen), you’ve heard all this before. This is the beginning of a new generation of bands who were inspired by late 90s, early 00s stoner metal and the influence is quite predominant. However, it’s the amalgamation of thrash, classic hard rock and punk that gives these guys the ‘one-up’ when compared to the other new sub-genres of metal storming onto the scene in hordes (Deathcore…………*shivers*). Bison create quite the stoned, thrash affair with an album that might actually warrant a bong-hit or two.
. Work kills me!
