Swiss trio The Crotals release their debut full-length, the energetically-titled Fuel! Flames! Blast!, on Friday through Tenacity Music. While maybe not as frenetic as the name they’ve given it might suggest, the 10-track record does boast a vital delivery in its push of aggressive sludge, the guitar of Guy Borel and baritone guitar of Maude Oswald crafting waves of nodding riffs punctuated by drummer Fabrice Marguerat‘s steady largesse of crash. Distinguished by Borel‘s throaty screams — more Tomas Lindberg than Mike Williams — the material across the album’s 39-minute span has a metallic underpinning to its noise rock that comes to the fore in songs like “Black Blizzard” or the ferocious but melodic opener “Lipstick on a Pig.”

That song starts with a sample — something about a snake — and later cut “Blast” seems to have one corresponding, but winding though Fuel! Flames! Blast! is, I’m not sure I’d say it’s working purely on a serpentine theme. Raging riffers like “Slave of Damnation” and the instrumental “Wrath” have some punk element, but there’s a post-metal vibe in the back-of-the-beat drumming on “Polar Thoughts” and the slower “Shelter,” which precedes, so The Crotals offer a touch more variety than it might at first seem given the largely unipolar vocals, consuming and satisfyingly layered as those screams are. “Never Sorry” makes for an early highlight, emblematic of some of the album’s more chaotic moments, but the one-two punch of “Blast” and “Mississippi” seems to get to the heart of what Fuel! Flames! Blast! is all about, its pummel and nod presented with a sense of poise. “Mississippi” builds patiently to a furious drum-led apex in its second half, but even there, The Crotals are in full control, and for something so aggressive and destructive sounding, it’s classy. They’re kicking your ass in style.

Same could be said of closer “Desert Odyssey,” which draws Fuel! Flames! Blast! to its finish not with sandy soundscaping, but with rounded-low end thrust and a final wash of noise, a popping snare cutting through melodic guitar that pushes into the finale, topped by one last raw-throated shout for good measure. The Crotals have a pretty tight grasp as it is on what they want their sound to do — i.e. fill your lungs — but there’s also potential in these tracks for longer-term creative progress, and even more than the name of the album, that’s how The Crotals make their exclamation.

Please enjoy the full stream of Fuel! Flames! Blast! below (there was an error with Soundcloud, so I’m using one of my own players), followed by some more bio background, courtesy of Tenacity Music:

[mp3player width=480 height=450 config=fmp_jw_widget_config.xml playlist=the-crotals-fuel-flames-blast.xml]

Featuring current and former members of Favez and Toboggan, Swiss sludge/stoner-rock trio The Crotals will release their debut full-length album entitled “Fuel! Flames! Blast!” on April 3 via Tenacity Music. Recorded at Rec Studio by Serge Morattel, “Fuel! Flames! Blast!” combines sludgy, stoner riffs with oppressive punk rhythms and serrated vocals distilling pure venom.

The Crotals on Thee Facebooks

Tenacity Music

Tags: Fuel Flames Blast, Lausanne, Switzerland, Tenacity Music, The Crotals, The Crotals Fuel Flames Blast

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