This rock project is spearheaded by Monster Magnet drummer Jon Kleiman and original Monster Magnet vocalist Tim Cronin. The odd thing is that there are nine other band members credited, the vast majority of whom play lead guitar!? Five lead guitarists, three bassists, a harmonica player, etc. Now, that's interesting and all, but truth be told, I don't like this very much. Having never been a fan of 60's garage type stuff nor 70's rock (in fact I hate most of it very much), I find this to feel a bit stale and boring. I don't like the use of keyboards at all (when present), the writing is pretty basic and moderately paced, the vocals are typically resting under some distortion, and so on. They definitely have a lot of wild leads going on all over the place, but I wouldn't say that helps the songs be any more memorable. Coincidentally the one track that stands out a whole lot is "100 Days (Herod)", which features for Kyuss vocalist John Garcia. Sure, I like Garcia's vocals better, but the music is also rhythmically quirky and heavily driven by the rhythm section, which is a lot more interesting to me than any of the other riffs. The darker and more experimental drones and constant solos of "A Man Called Shit" should also be explored further if you ask me, as that direction could be a much more intriguing one. The recording is weird, too. It's not bad, it works for the style, but it could be better. The drums are nice and natural, and the bass tone is slick, but the guitars have a pretty generic sound, and when combined with the vocals leave this sounding like a more authentic or genuinely inspired version of all of those "retro" bands full of 18-year-old losers clogging up MTV these days. I like the fact that they fuck with the mix sometimes, mixing the bass louder in one channel and the guitars louder in the other and whatnot, but that just messes with you a little bit, it doesn't necessarily add to their sound. The layout is very simple and very strange. The cover looks great in its simplicity, as does the back cover. Inside are photos of a gutted fish with plain white text, as well as some band photos. That's about it! I don't know, it would honestly take a very special band to be able to make me appreciate this style of music. Aside from a very small number of distinct passages herein this disc is a complete sleeper. I'm only giving them the benefit of the doubt because they're competent musicians and I'm predisposed to dislike this shit from the start, so...
[Meteor City]
Running time - 41:15, Tracks: 10
[Notable tracks: 100 Days (Herod), A Man Called Shit]
Meteor City - http://www.meteorcity.com
