Andrew Danso

This is Superhot Records first punt, and it’s convincing. While it’s far too early to see if the label will pigeonhole a niche, Stubb are certainly a worthy selection in dirt-rock quality. This is an album harking back to those vintage pubs and clubs dedicated to the sounds of Sabbath and Hendrix, drenched in the wails of bluesy feedback and its evergreen psychedelia.

The self-titled, ‘Stubb’, is a quaint exercise in imperfection, embodied by a vintage recording. It feels as if you’re in a grimy, smoke filled room with the trio, as they spontaneously jam through the uppers and downers of 70s rock, brightened by their psychedelic and explosive choruses.

This is a fairly brisk and messy affair that’s made fun in its reminiscence for the simple sounding old school, and thankfully, the record has been put together without copying guitar tabs of Osbourne infused rock - Stubb’s own stamp on the material pays homage to the oldies instead of blindly ripping them off. Track, “Scale The Mountain” bobbles along its driven choruses before bubbling up into a widescreen, spectacular Wylde-like chorus, while “Hard Hearted Woman” is close to a disorientated “Voodoo Child” that slows deliriously down into a drunken blues lull. “Galloping Horses” is Stubb at their most aggressive, and notably most captivating; structurally, it sticks out like a sore thumb, and unlike that of the 70s period pieces which came before it, this is the one tune they’ll reside an identity in. It’s a powerful, stompy finish to the album. Edgy and angsty in its blues chugging, yet suitable for a headbang to the pace of Kyuss.

Stubb aren’t a band to wreck with your soul. Sure, they do trip themselves up every now and then, but there’s enough standout material on playback to make the crumples worth your effort. They’ll definitely provide the oldies dancing around the perch with a good time, while sounding modern enough for newcomers alike, to jump on their bandwagon.

8/10 http://www.superhotrecords.com/

Emoticon kicks off from the Plymouth quartets last effort in similar territory, but on a greater scale, with bigger production values to boot. Definitions by their very definition tend to shut down debate, yet defining Daggers Drawn at the drop of a penny, is something worth debating.

Indeed, they pull in many directions, (combining progressive, technical, grunge, stoner rock), which help give the EP a lot of style and thankfully, not at the expense of substance. Yep, you can actually feel their disdain, opposed to a band chucking a few genres side by side; inevitably we could tag this ‘Gojira with added Alice and Chains’ or ‘Kyuss with added Machine Head’ but swimming for attractive buzzwords discredits any sort of identity for Daggers Drawn, who on the merits of their current material, are strong enough to sit beside the big guns.

The proof is usually in the pudding, and if you flick on opening cruncher, “Pariah Among The Lepers”, the transition through genres feels weightless, packing the desired punch through its steady execution. There’s a good amount of adrenaline to be burnt through second number “Midas In Reverse”, before it halts to open up with the colour of vocal harmony, while the technical and heavier “Emoticon” and “World of Lies” will grip those looking to kick the hinges off a door – we’d advise you to wear boots if that’s the case.

8/10 (Metal Mayhem UK)