EARTHRIDE – Doom Metal, Biker Doom Metal and to a Metal degree Stoner Metal. This is Earthride. Let me tell you this much, if you are looking to take that gritty and bad-ass Metal ride you’ve been hankering for, look no further than this Maryland based band for just that. With more than enough mainstream dime-a-dozens getting all the attention from the Rock “scholar” mags, it’s a full-throttle, Doom pedal to the Metal band, like Earthride, that gets their proper Metal due here on Metal Odyssey.
Something Wicked is the third full-length album from Earthride and it’s exceedingly muscular in all of it’s Doom Metal glory, with Stoner riffs galore. If this album was actually alive and breathing, I would want it to be my personal body guard. Woven with blue collar toughness and plenty of underground thump and stump Metal, Earthride succeeds with their own Metal stamp of originality, combined with song quality. Plus, the production gives way to a raw appeal with just enough polish, to make Something Wicked sound so menacingly strong.
Ozzy Osbourne era Black Sabbath fans and Doom Metal aficionado’s should be thankful, that a band like Earthride is crunching out Metal as heard on Something Wicked. Earthride could very easily have named their new album Earthshaker… due to the Earth pounding bass courtesy of Rob Hampshire. Vocalist Dave Sherman sounds like a crusty combination of Lemmy Kilmister and Billy Gibbons, while still coming across as a damn cool original. Then again, after enough listens of what Earthride is playing here, the Motorhead and ZZ Top influence arguably exists musically… in my Metal opinion.
The opening track, Something Wicked (I May Become) lays down the Metal ground rules as to what Earthride is bringing to the party… some seriously Heavy, thick and trudging songs that have Old School guitar leads and solos intertwined within. This is a band and an album that solidifies the “what you hear is what you get” Metal school of thought. Don’t expect any experimentation or that one song that will throw you off guard, this is Earthride and they are aren’t about to cater to the diverse Metal enthusiasts anytime soon.
Amidst all the Doom and Stoner appealing riffs, there is some southern boogie in Earthrides step too. Force Fed Fear plays out at 8:31 long and is admittedly my favorite song on Something Wicked. Kyle VanSteinburg lends the boogie down riffs on this molasses heavy kicker of a song, while also providing a meat and potatoes solo that burns. Force Fed Fear is a mighty way to cap off this album.
Metal be thy name, I give Something Wicked 8 out of 10 Metal Fists.
EARTHRIDE:
Dave Sherman – vocals
Kyle VanSteinburg – guitar
Eric Little – drums
Rob Hampshire – bass
* For more info on Earthride, all you have to do is click on the link below:
* Something Wicked was released on July 20, 2010, through Earthride’s very own Earth Brain Records.
* Something Wicked was recorded, mixed and mastered by Chris Kozlowski, (Blue Cheer, Pentagram, Melvins and Trouble), at the Polar Bear Lair.
* Featured guest guitarist is underground Metal legend – Scott “Whino” Weinrich of Saint Vitus, Shrinebuilder, The Obsessed and Spirit Caravan fame. “Whino” appears on the track Supernatural Illusion.
* Included in the graphic layout of this Something Wicked album are the actual X-rays and MRI’s from the various injuries sustained over the years by all four members of Earthride. That’s Metal. That’s Earthride.
Something Wicked Track Listing:
Something Wicked (I May Become)
Hacksaw Eyeball
Make Up Your Mind
Destruction Song
Zodiac
Watch The Children Play
Grip The Wheel
Supernatural Illusion
Force Fed Fear
LONG LIVE EARTHRIDE.
Stone.
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