Well, hopefully this will prevent you from annoying your friends, a hangover, hurting your hand and getting arrested. Because this album was made with the angry kind in mind.
Karma To Burn: Wild Wonderful Purgatory
1999, MIA Records
"We're All Ready For Tonight. Not Like You, Shithead"
This record starts with a woman saying those words in a cranky voice. A tone reminiscent of a grouchy grandmother mixed with a scary big-breasted vixen directly out of Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!.
That's probably the only lyrics you'll hear on this record, exception made of a couple of distant yells during the few pauses Karma To Burn allows your ear and an interesting line about the band's native West Virginia on One (which by the way is probably much better than Metallica's eponymous song).
From then on, its mostly about guitars. Loud, powerful, textured, gnarly Les Paul tones played at excessive volume, layering on a rhythm section composed of a stooge bassist with a sweet saturated sound (in that style, check out Mammoth Mammoth's self titled EP) and an ex-Nebula drummer (basically a tall skeleton with a dirty looking 'fro) whose martial drumbeating skills (at that point, its not drumming anymore - he is seriously beating the shit out of his kit) are as impressive as he is skinny: he's really, and I mean really, memorable (do not, under any circumstance, forget earplugs if you go see them live).
People exclusive to soft melodies, or even those who appreciate occasional heaviness when contrasted with heavenly harmonies, can probably skip this. Focus is given here on providing angry people with a soundtrack to their calming down. Riffs are predictible, but never superfluous, and always delivered with masterful heaviness that will sooth everyone from the most rebellous teenager to the closet-fan-of-loud-music executive.
However, this music best showcases its soothing (annoying people might say exhausting) qualities on an album-length listening session. This is reinforced by the lack of song titles (just random non-sequential numbers), which make remembering a particular song quite difficult. Karma To Burn aren't trying to make memorable radio singles - they're pulling off something that most musicians with a sense of integrity want: coherent, powerful albums.
Of course, you can criticize these 51 minutes of music: these three aren't afraid to reach the borders of clichétown with their heavier-than-thou riffs. However, they do it quite honestly, which makes the stereotypical/unsurprising aspect of their compositions contribute positively to the somewhat phenomenal energy those songs have.
Here's what happens with Wild Wonderful Purgatory: while you listen, you will want to do the aforementioned "senseless things". You might then pause whatever song you're listening to for a couple of seconds, having actually decided to do them, then realize you probably want to go to the end of this record first. Maybe pull out the copy of Cowie's Owen Noone And Marauder you bought when you were in high school, and sit on a dirty couch with a beer, but listen to every riff these guys came up with nonetheless.
Then, when the last 20 seconds of distortion of "Eight" fade out, you'll give yourself a rest. Having totally forgotten what you were angry at, you'll pause for a bit, write down somewhere to get their 2001 album "Almost Heathen" in a near future, then pick your < insert object that when you use, you feel like you're doing something productive > of choice and try to use it as well as you can.
...at least that's what I did...
Rateyourmusic page for this record
An Interesting Point of view from Stonerobixxx
NME review (7/10)
Allmusic review (4/5)
I Dream Of Pink Elephants Eating Grey Marshmallows: When The Giant Spiders Attack Us, Hopefully They'll Be Big Enough To Distract Them.
...
JNCT
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