Front to back, the first demo from stoner rockers Witchasaurus Hex is all about charm. Appropriately titled Our First Demo, from the band’s name on down to the hand-drawn cover and the Sharpie marker smell of the track list to the two tracks themselves that comprise it, everything about Witchasaurus Hex has an almost childlike appeal to it, and the songs themselves, “The Great Wolf Lodge” and “Country Fried Snake” bear that out in easygoing riffs and grooves. The Eugene, Oregon (known chiefly as the home of YOB), four-piece dial into nod-worthy stoner vibes and simple structures too make songs that are unquestionably for the converted and stylistically basic, but again, built on that charm, I’m more inclined to roll with it than pan them for not reinventing the stoner rock formula, especially on a release that, as noted, is their first demo.

Beginning with a riff that says “follow me” right from its start, “The Great Wolf Lodge” keeps a middle pace throughout, giving the fuzz from Tristan Tower’s guitars time to sink in as complemented by Andy Ritenour’s bass before the drums or the vocals kick in. Our First Demo was recorded and mixed by Sam Wartenbee (Take 92), and Dylan Ferguson’s drums are a little far back in the mix as compared to Tower’s guitar (at least in the solo sections of “The Great Wolf Lodge”), but it’s the guitar leading the song anyway. Vocalist Brian Michael Cooper has a high-in-the-mouth tenor to his voice, reminiscent of some of the higher-register vocals in Asteroid, or if you want to trace it back to doom, Apostle of Solitude or any number of the oldschool acts who influenced them. His voice too is a little high in the mix, but again, this being Witchasaurus Hex’s first time out, and the grooves they elicit being so formidable, I’m more than willing to let it slide. Cooper fits the music well, in any case, and I think bringing Ritenour up in any subsequent mixes would probably resolve a lot of the issues sound-wise on Our First Demo. I’m a sucker for a warm bass sound, though, so take that for what it’s worth.

“The Great Wolf Lodge” slows down and jams out the last three of its total 11 minutes, and it might be my favorite part of Our First Demo, Tower layering in guitar leads and feedback for a spacey/psychedelic feel that gets contrasted in the shorter, doomier riffage of “Country Fried Snake.” Tower begins the song again, Cooper follows him for the vocal melody line, and it looks like it’s going to be another 9:49 of the same kind of vibe – there’s a mention of “trucking in space” early in the lyrics, if that helps – but “Country Fried Snake” moves quickly into a chorus where Cooper’s voice comes on with a megaphone effect over what’s basically a spoken part, and I find it falls flat in a rhythmic ‘90s delivery. The line is “Country fried snake/Gonna make you wake/Your bones will shake/For that country fried snake” (and variants thereof), and in listening, it pulls me out of the eyes-half-closed relaxation that “The Great Wolf Lodge” had induced. The song pushes into a second and much stronger chorus section from there, but they go back to the bridge/first-chorus several more times in the song, and the more they do it, the more I think it was ill-advised. Without having been there, I’m obviously in no position to speculate on whose idea it was, Witchasaurus Hex’s or Wartenbee’s, but it’s an awkward fit with the music.

That said, Our First Demo still gets by on its positives. The central riff of “Country Fried Snake” rules, and the chorus that the misstep leads to is probably the strongest Witchasaurus Hex have on offer here, Cooper pushing his voice and proving able to do so and not lose control of it. With a third track, it might be easier to get a handle on where Witchasaurus Hex are headed stylistically, but going from the 21 minutes here, there’s plenty of reason to look forward to what the foursome does next, and even with the incongruence in “Country Fried Snake,” loyal stoner rockers will be able to get into the mischievous nature of the material. I dig it, is what I’m trying to say. It’s not original by any stretch, but unpretentious fuzz is almost always welcome in my ears, and Our First Demo is most certainly that. Plus, its cover might just be my favorite of the year so far. It’s hard to beat a crayon-colored dinosaur witch about to stir a purple cauldron with a broom, and that’s just a scientific fact.

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Tags: Eugene, Oregon, Unsigned bands, Witchasaurus Hex

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 19th, 2011 at 12:30 pm and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.