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- Date Released: January 1, 2005
- Genre: Rock/Pop
- Label: Custard Records
Belated stateside arrival of an eccentric hard-prog gem.
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We Say...
California stoner-doom quartet Bigelf call their publishing “Evil Beatle,” which sums up their proggish brand of magical mystery metal: steeple-spiraling harmonies and melodies unheard-of in the Sabbath-worshipping caverns of bong-rock, hitched to a funeral-swinging physicality that fellow post-Pepper’s art-pop travelers of the 10cc/Supertramp ilk never touched.
This third Bigelf album, released on Warner Sweden in 2003, took nearly half a decade to see micro-indie light in the U.S. "Sunshine Suicide" echoes "Buick Mackane" by T. Rex; a section of “Pain Killers” could be 1971 Alice Cooper covering Napoleon XIV; a rhythmic riff in the otherwise autumnal “Disappear” mimics Pink Floyd’s “Money”; “Bats in the Belfry I” opens with arch fusion geometry reminiscent of Crack The Sky or the Tubes channeling Zappa. I detect some King’s X in there somewhere, too. Thing is, you don’t need to pick up on such references to appreciate how the band gives coherent structure to their largely eccentric songs.
Though track times frequently exceed six minutes, even the trippy mellotron parts almost never devolve into mere noodling. Themes, surprisingly uncryptic, range from insanity to nuclear Armageddon to the music biz—the latter in the witty “Rock & Roll Contract,” whose cynicism might now count as prophetic. -
They Say...
Retro-rock was once thought of primarily as merely a bunch of shtick. But with the sound of a good old-fashioned rock band letting it rip in the studio (without a hint of ProTools foolery) becoming increasingly harder to come by during the early 21st century, retro-rock may be looked upon in a different light. Take for instance, Bigelf. If you take a gander inside the 2007 reissue of their 2003 release, Hex, you'll see four impressively hairy gentleman, striking a pose (in front of a mammoth cross, no less) straight off the back cover of an early-'70s Black Sabbath record. As a result, it may be tempting to pass off Bigelf as one of the countless doom metal bands that have made a career out of merely copying Master of Reality. But dig a bit deeper, and you'll find tracks that show "the elf men" have studied their Beatles -- or perhaps more succinctly, ELO -- such as "Rock & Roll Contract," and even a nod to Pink Floyd on "Bats in the Belfry II." But make no mistake, Bigelf are indeed Sab-heads, as evidenced by such delightful metal plodders as the album-opening "Mad Hatter," as well as "Sunshine Suicide" and "Carry the Load." Bigelf's Hex should appeal equally to doom metallists and Wolfmother admirers.
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| 01. |  |
Madhatter |
4:15 |
|
| 02. | |
Bats In the Belfry II |
3:30 |
|
| 03. | |
Pain Killers |
3:20 |
|
| 04. | |
Disappear |
6:32 |
|
| 05. | |
Rock & Roll Contract |
5:30 |
|
| 06. | |
Sunshine Suicide |
4:15 |
|
| 07. | |
Falling Bombs |
4:58 |
|
| 08. | |
Black Moth |
6:06 |
|
| 09. | |
Carry The Load |
5:37 |
|
| 10. | |
Burning Bridges |
6:50 |
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| 11. | |
Bats In The Belfry I |
7:43 |
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| 12. | |
$ |
2:07 |
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12 Total Tracks, 60:43 Total Length
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Credits
- Michael Johansson - Photography // Dave Schultz - Mastering // Damon Fox - Organ // Damon Fox - Synthesizer // Damon Fox - Guitar // Damon Fox - Piano // Damon Fox - Producer // Damon Fox - Mellotron
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