Mendozza, Mendozza: Sticking Out Their Black Tongue
Nebulous as it is, the blend of influences at work on Vancouver sludge metallers Mendozza’s 2012 self-released, self-titled album still pales in comparison to the band’s backstory when it comes to a sense of mystery. Sure, elements show up in the tracks that take the Melvins-style drive the band showed on their 2007 White Rhino outing (reissued in 2009; review here) and make them way the hell spacious, feeding echoes in from who knows where amid Celtic Frost cavern yells emanated by way of mid-paced High on Fire belch, but most of that is easy to peg. On the other hand, Mendozza’s two earliest albums, 2005’s HMCS Uganda and 2006’s Illuminarius were well received enough to get the band included on the soundtrack to the second Underworld movie, but after White Rhino hit in ’07, they dropped their successive-year release pattern and waited three before putting out the ultra-scuffed Billy Anderson-produced Cobra Noche in 2010. Most startling of all, however, is that Mendozza, which was mixed by Matt Bayles (Mastodon, Isis, etc.), seems to be going for an entirely different sludged-out feel, and where “Testament of Hate” from that album was so head-down mechanized-sounding it bordered on Ministry, in comparison, the songs this time around are slower, riffier and more esoteric, unspeakably loud but still deep in the mix, so that however much metallic chugging it has in its verse, “Ayahuasca” opens up to a genuine stoner rock riff in its chorus, satisfying even as it confuses.
Couple that with the noms de guerre the trio has adopted for themselves – Deuce on vocals/guitar, The Judge on bass and Master Beater (get it?) on drums – and the plot thickens further, almost fattened to the point of the lumbering groove that commences Mendozza’s Mendozza with “Ligature.” Deuce starts Melvins-style on the vocals, but soon shows diversity of approach with screams, playing the one off the other smoothly for the remainder of the song and even managing to work some melody in the guitar as Master Beater’s cymbals flesh out the mix. “Ayahuasca” is faster, but however much Mendozza change up the tempo, they never seem to lose their crushing sensibility – and for that, although it’s not nearly as dirty-sounding, Mendozza is a heavier record than was Cobra Noche, its nearest comparison point. To wit, “Spirit Horse” couples post-Neurosis churn as interpreted by Mastodon with a Zoroaster-style wash, sounding not so much like any of those three bands particularly as a result, but delightfully massive all the same. The main riff in “Spirit Horse” is more angular than, say, the intro of “Ayahuasca,” but that only winds up adding to its effectiveness as it’s remade into a building stoner jam in the song’s second half. As the second longest cut at 8:43 behind closer “Wishful Drinking”’s 8:57, “Spirit Horse” is also one of the most immersive tracks on Mendozza, with Master Beater keeping time on her ride cymbal and punctuating riff cycles with crashes while The Judge pockets the low end and Deuce rips what feels like an endlessly fading solo. When in doubt, go heavy. Mendozza don’t sound like they’re in doubt here, but they went heavy anyway.
The centerpiece of the CD is “Bifrost,” which is a dark and instrumental groover that nonetheless manages to convey some sense of tension even in its laid back (compared to some of what Mendozza’s done already, anyhow) feel. Deuce spaces out on a bluesy lead as The Judge and Master Beater dutifully plug along until the song crashes headfirst into the payoff of the darker mood “Bifrost” set with the bleak pairing of “The Undertaking” and the 2:39 “Born with a Black Tongue,” both of which are the sources from which the High on Fire and Celtic Frost comparisons above are derived. Part of that, especially on the latter track, comes from the vocals, but the guitars, bass and drums bear it out as well, “The Undertaking” starting off with that epic feel that newer High on Fire manages to hone so well and no shortage of killer soloing from Deuce. The groove, however, is all doom, even as “Born with a Black Tongue” hypothesizes what life might be like if Tom G. Warrior had grown up listening to Kyuss. Between “Born with a Black Tongue” and the earlier sprawl of “Spirit Horse,” Mendozza show just how much they’ve grown into their sound even since White Rhino, which was when I first encountered them, and the nine-minute stomp of “Wishful Drinking” – at times classic heavy prog and later devolving into beastly doom – is a solid affirmation to finish out the album, marked by Deuce’s most vicious screams yet. It’s a malevolent end, but one the rest of Mendozza’s Mendozza justifies (or earns, depending on how you want to look at it), and as the feedback fades the record to a close, I’m less inclined to try and hunt down the various answers to the mysteries of the band than to press play again and let the skull-bashing begin anew. Have at it.
AWESOME! I love this band!!
Alright! Today I’ve had ELO, JUSTICE, MOUNTAIN, a saggy new track by SIGH and this shit rounds it up fine.