Whatever points I’d take away from Missouri stompers ((Thorlock)) for their extraneous use of parentheses — damn that SunnO))) precedent! — I’d have to give right back for what’s in between them. Think about it, can you come up with a better band name than one combining the Norse god Thor and a warlock? I know I certainly can’t. You’d pretty much have to figure that if there was a thorlock walking around he’d have an awesome beard. So be it.

((Thorlock)) play a kind of Southbound stoner-doomly fuckyouupcore that only Bulletwolf do more drunkenly and Orange Goblin mastered on their last album, Healing through Fire. There’s some Melvins crunch to be had as well, but if their self-titled, self-released full-length is any indicator, ((Thorlock)) have two main modes in which they operate: a straightforward aggressive rock that calls to mind adjectival phrases like “whiskey-fueled” and “balls out” — as heard on “Man Will Lose,” “Triceratops” and elsewhere — and a full-on feedback shitstorm that only appears twice, on “Mississippi Wheelwash” and closer “Beyond Cosmic Dimensions.”

Both songs are upwards of 18 minutes long, and the former devolves into a jam led by the rhythm section of drummer Josh and bassist Luke while Shiv‘s guitar emits pulsing waves that test the limits of endurance and decency. “Beyond Cosmic Dimensions,” at a paltry 17:43, features about seven minutes solid of guitar noise. Very doom, very underground, very cool idea, very hard to sit through. These things are often a trade off.

But even these two tracks, monsters though they are, rock. Maybe not in the same base level way as “Extinct” or charming opener “Assneck,” where the goal is to get you headbanging and it’s well met, but in a band where all three members sing, there are bound to be personality shifts. Covers of Kiss‘ classic single “Deuce” and the more surprising choice, “Rockin’ in the Free World” by Neil Young help add a sense of familiarity to ((Thorlock)) that carries the album over well to the listener and makes it so that the original material has even more context. They’re not asking much from their audience, in terms of indulgence, rather offering some good timey boozer doom that’s heavy on the riffs and crash. With beerbecue season quickly approaching, it’s hard to complain about that.

As Luke‘s heavy bass tone sets the stage for the Sleep riffage to come on “Beyond Cosmic Dimensions,” without even looking at the track time, you just know you’re in for something massive. One hopes ((Thorlock)) will grow to be able to combine these aspects of their sound and rather than setting the next album up in such strict terms as “three three-minute songs, then a huge one, three more three-minute songs, then a huge one — done” as they have here, but in the meantime, their self-titled is a hefty slab of underground clenched teeth doom that’s worthy of attention and encouragement alike.

Go to, gentlemen, and destroy.

((Thorlock)) on MySpace

Tags: Bands with superfluous punctuation, Missouri, Thorlock, Unsigned bands

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 6th, 2009 at 12:26 pm and is filed under Buried Treasure, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.