Review: Godbotherer “Buckle Up Bitch” CD

"" CD5/10 - [self-released]This UK act's demo had me wary from the start, as the band name is so-so, the packaging stinks, and the demo title ain't my thing at all. But thankfully they offer a little over 20 minutes of competent material that's an interesting mix of styles. It's metal, sure. It's sludgy, of course. There's some rock in there, I guess. But the end result doesn't come off sounding anything like "stoner rock" or doom, nor is it as twisted as any kind of Eyehategod sounding stuff, or as chunky as anything that could be called metalcore. Everything is pretty much based around thick midpaced chord progressions with throaty vocal grunts/growls, occasionally getting slightly melodic, usually maintaining a pretty sludgy vibe that's not overly groovy, and at times throwing in some singing backup vocals. "God Made My Medicine" is among the "catchier" tracks, but I'm not really feeling it, the more melodic chord progressions sound out of place with most of this stuff, and I'm not into the singing vocals because they get too strained and high-pitched, so I can't tell if they're supposed to be a joke or not (I'll assume not, but they really are irritating and make no sense in this context). "Tungsten Towers" opens slower and lets the bass have some more room with a little feedback coming in. It gets a little groovier, but I actually think this is one of the better songs as a whole. "1234" then gets a little more rocked out and sludgy, which is a good direction for the band, though lyrics like, "1, 2, 3, 4, let the dead hit the floor, 5, 6, 7, 8, I'll take them out to masturbate," are pretty ridiculous and turn me off big time. The recording's alright for a demo. It's rough, and it sounds pretty much like a demo, but it's fairly clear and they've got solid tones. I wish the bass were more evident, and the mix isn't quite balanced enough overall, but it gets 'em by. The disc comes in a clear jewel case with no packaging. There's some kind of weird abstract image printed on the disc face with the band logo and song titles, and that's all you get. As usual I think that's a poor decision, but at the every least they did more than write the band name on the CD-R with marker, eh? I'm torn on this. At their best these guys could make a great heavy band with a little Louisiana sludge meets death rock meets straight modern metal going on (most closely achieved with the energy of the title track), but the immature humor isn't for me, and those singing vocals definitely need to go. I think they can hit the mark if they keep at it, but this demo suffers from just enough problem areas to hold it back.