Dusted Angel are Either Sick of This World, or Very Much Not Sick of This World, and Either Way, it’s Pretty Sick
Listening to the first full-length by Santa Cruz doom rockers Dusted Angel, I can’t help but wonder exactly what they meant by the title Earth-Sick Mind. It’s hard to tell whether the band, fronted by ex-Bl’ast/Spaceboy/Gargantula vocalist Clifford Dinsmore, were thinking of “earth-sick” like the idea of being homesick, missing planet Earth after leaving for whatever reason, or “earth-sick” as in, “God damn, I’m really sick of this fucking planet.” The cover art to Earth-Sick Mind (released on Mankind Records) isn’t much help either, as the loincloth and gasmask-clad figure featured on an apocalyptic red background standing on top of a pile of skulls could just as easily be on Earth as not. Hard to say. That pipe he’s holding looks like Earth plumbing, if that makes any difference.
The title is probably the most challenging aspect of the album though, as Dusted Angel’s straightforward doom approach is bound to be familiar and welcome amidst the seasoned heads who hear it. A double-guitar five-piece with riffs and solos from Eric Fieber and Scott Stevens, Elliot Young on bass and Dinsmore’s Bl’ast bandmate Bill Torgeson drumming, Dusted Angel don’t ask much from the listener in terms of indulgence. Rather, although tracks like “Tards on Shards” and “Scottstober” (inside jokes abound, one imagines) reach over seven minutes, there’s nothing overly complex about their structures. This can make Earth-Sick Mind feel redundant at points, but each individual track has something to grab even the most fickle of attentions, be it the plus-sized chugging of later cut “Pulverizer” or the sub-stoner drive of “Seeking the Dawn” which is kind of what Fu Manchu would be if Fu Manchu only wrote songs in the dark.
Dinsmore has a “man on the mountain” feel to his vocals that adds to the overall epic feel of the songs. His shouts and cries border occasionally on growls, and with Billy Anderson’s production, they fit well into the mix, allowing the guitars and drums plenty of room to shine where and when they should, leaving space as well for Young’s bass to lend a thickness to “Dogwhistle” it would otherwise be sorely lacking. Dusted Angel being no strangers to the processes involved with writing, recording and mixing an album, Earth-Sick Mind has the benefit of their professionalism, and it sounds like it. Although the band is by no means experimental in their songwriting or arrangements, there’s a poise in their take on riff-led doom that gives their ready changes in tempo an overarching groove it’s easy to be lost in it for the duration.
They work well as a unit, and as an establishing statement, Dusted Angel’s Earth-Sick Mind — despite its vague title — gives a clear indication of what the band were trying to accomplish on their debut outing. The elements that comprise it are going to be recognizable to those who’ve been around the genre, but in making the album, the band has also given themselves a strong foundation to build on for subsequent releases, blending Californian skater hardcore riffage with epic doom atmospheres to create something meshed between the two and yet somehow neither. It’s an interesting project, and I hope to hear Dusted Angel push it even farther next time.
Tags: California, Dusted Angel, Mankind Records, Santa Cruz
