Flood - Native

This is one of those albums i wish i have bought when it first came out,Man was i missing out on something real crushingly heavy!! Flood from San Francisco are a Stoner/Doom Droning band of the extreme variety and while there is a lot of bands doing it,this band must be one of the best around.The four tracks on here range from the 6 to the nearly 20 minute length,i am guessing without looking at my CD player right now.Even the shorter tracks have a epic feel about,monster riffs and sonic dirges might be one way of describing them.The band seems have a concept here with songs titles like "Dam,Atlantis" and "Water",you get the picture ?They play a sort of Jamming Drone/Doom kind of music that will leave you crush under the weight of the riffs.While the guitar sound is real distorted,its also real heavy.The bass and drum sound is also huge,pounding and crushing through the entire album.Lyrics are not the real focal point on the album,its more of a guitar/bass/drum driven assault and that is its strength."Dam" is a classic example of their Drone/Psych/Doom appeal with somewhat basic riffing but with a real hypnotic atmosphere.The only band i can compared them to is "Yob" but only in the way they drive home their songs,there is a certain progressive thing going on here.It is not all slow and droning however,in "Atlantis" there is a faster section that takes you by surprise.Enough to make your hair stand up,its a real adrenaline rushing experience that blew me away when i first heard it.There is subtle hints at melody in "Water" and the guitar work has a uniqueness of its own,hard to describe but for some reason it doesn't sound like anyone else.That in itself is a achievement as its hard to be too original in this genre of music but Flood have manage to make something that stands on its own.The music on first listen seems kind of basic but once you give it more spins it hits you that band is actually a complex machine.If Stoner/Psychedelic Jamming is what rocks your boat i am sure you will like this,it might take a few listens but you will get hooked on this.Great album.9/10

http://www.myspace.com/floodingwater