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San Francisco’s Flood are pleasingly elemental. By elemental, I mean problem solving at the most basic level. Three guys get together in a room with drums, guitars, amps, and a mic. What next? They are there because of common interests. The style of playing is known to some extent. But unless they already have songs, they are there to jam. They put one note in front of another, and see what happens.
Aphelion (excerpt)Atlantis (excerpt)
Native (MeteorCity, 2009) unfolds this way. Songs start small, with single notes, delay pedal musings, and minimal figures. These gestures generate answers, which yield synchronicity, addition, and momentum. Before you know it, you are six minutes into a song, and it is crushing your pelvis and tear-gassing your face. Somehow, it feels great. It’s heavy yet graceful. “Aphelion” doesn’t introduce high end until after six and a half minutes. A lone note rings out as an alarm, drums work up a sweat, and bass says, yes, I am ready to do this. Wherever we go, I am there with you. “There” turns out to be a hippo hoedown, as ten-ton hips sashay in minute-long arcs.
But this is no chubby chasing joint. The recording is lean, and so are the structures. Flood don’t have the massive reach of, say, YOB, who have some of the same elements. The atmosphere comes from pedals, not from some expensive producer. That’s fine. This is doom metal dressing down as sludge. Low pretension, high impact. It’s not the clothes that matter, but the body. This body is one bodacious, big-boned mama. More to love, and all of it meat. Dig in.
Buy:
Amazon (CD)
Amazon (MP3)
eMusic (MP3)
All That Is Heavy (CD)
This is a really cool release, MeteorCity has been doing a pretty damn good job recently. Flood, Black Pyramid (especially awesome), New Keepers, Elder, Snail… all recent releases that bring the doom/stoner rock convincingly and without sounding bogged down or terribly dated.
Flood are great.