As I do with most records that come my way bearing some measure of hype – because, as I’ve been told, I’m a prick and once someone else decides they like something I have to not like it – I put off reviewing Taste the Sin, the sophomore full-length outing and Relapse Records debut of the trio Black Tusk. Culled from the metallically fertile fields of Georgia which have already given rise to Kylesa, Baroness and a little band called Mastodon, Black Tusk maintain strong sonic connections to the definition of progressive whereby trapeze riffs and tempo changes meet with heady drum fills, but set themselves apart when it comes to attitude. A song like Taste the Sin opener “Embrace the Madness” has no obvious connections to classic literature. In fact, if you pay attention to the words, it’s kind of dumb, and I think that’s what Black Tusk are going for.

It works to some degree, but even taking the attitude shift into consideration, Black Tusk, who formed in 2005 and issued their first album, Passage Through Purgatory, on Hyperrealist in 2008, aren’t really bringing in anything we haven’t already heard, despite skillfully incorporating thrashing elements from the likes of High on Fire. That said, it’s easy to see why many listeners would latch onto them as a candidate for the vaulted “Next Big Thing” in underground metal. Baroness won’t have an album out this year, and Black Tusk fill that void nicely, constructed as they are of familiar parts with just enough individuality behind them to stamp out any bitchy critic-types who might say, “They sound just like whoever.” Basically, Taste the Sin is thinky-thinky sub-prog stoner metal you don’t actually have to think all that hard about. The riffs of guitarist/vocalist Andrew, while too busy to be memorable in the Sabbathian sense, do what they’re supposed to do, and a song like “Way of Horse and Bow” has more than enough edge to get by.

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