Customer Reviews

Old Growth (Dig)

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4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
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I am a huge Dead Meadow fan, and I don't hesitate to say this album is least representative of what makes this band great. There are some great tunes here, but this album doesn't repeatedly hit as hard as the ones that preceded it.

I like many of the songs, but whereas previous efforts would elicit 3-4 songs (at least) to go on a self-styled "greatest hits" CD, "Old Growth" would get 2, maybe 3 (those being Ain't Got Nothin, Between Me and the Ground and Til Kingdom Come). Seven Seers gets a nod for its unique instrumentation.

The Great Deceiver, What Needs Must Be, Down Here, I'm Gone and Hard People are alright but not overly memorable. Admittedly it has grown on me, but it's still my least favorite DM album. The Queen of All Returns just sounds tossed off and Keep on Walking is more like an updated CCR cover than a Dead Meadow original.

My biggest gripe is that this album just sounds flat, as in the production is off somehow. It sounds flat or less dense than what would be expected from DM. The bass lines are mostly buried and it sounds as if the guitar is coming through a little $100 amp instead of a stack of Orange amps. Luckily, the band makes up for that when it performs these songs live. And that's what this album is -- and excuse to get out and tour again and play live in their element.

Dead Meadow has been at their psychedelic brand of fuzzed-out rock & roll for a while now. From the heavy blues rock of their self titled debut or `Howls From the Hills', they have become one of the pre-immanent players in the field that critics seem to tend to call `stoner rock'. Dead Meadow's 2005 release `Feathers' showed the group as a whole beginning to branch out stylistically from the riff fueled sound they had so recklessly honed to perfection of their first few recordings to a more layered and less distorted flavor of psychedelic garage. This left a lot of their fans upset & calling out for a return to the hard rock sounds of old.

Fortunately however, on 'Old Growth', the band kept on moving forwards instead of falling back into that stoner rock safety net.

This latest release from the group is my personal favorite Dead Meadow album. For the side of their fan-base coming from a psychedelic rock background, `Old Growth' comes as a welcome breath of fresh air from the metal beatdowns. Here the band really tinkers with their sound & to great effect. From the epic folk raga of Seven Seers to the lurching funk of What Needs Must Be, this is one of Dead Meadows most articulate albums, relying on hazy layered atmosphere rather than pure overdriven crunch to bring its drugged-out sounds home. This is not to say that the band has completely abandoned their fuzz, they have just imposed a more song-oriented sound on top of those grooves.

This album is one of those that really plays well as a whole, with sings pulsating in & out as the album progresses. The last song on the LP, Either Way, is a slow, mournful southern-gothic tune very reminiscent of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club's sound off of their 2005 release `Howl', which I would very much recommend to anyone who digs this stuff!

Dead Meadow has never really been into radically changing their sound -- they've lost some of their rough edges, and some of their thick fuzz, but nothing too drastic.

And in "Old Growth," they keep doing what they do best -- vintage hard rock, tinged with some bluesy psychedelica, metal and stoner riffs, with the occasional ballad, and striking lyrics with a sense of fantasy. The newly relocated band lays out a powerful, dark musical experience that sticks to their signature sound, but is able to twist in a few new sounds.

It opens with some odd echoing sounds... and blossoms into a powerful, muscular riff that languidly twines itself through the whole song. Over the ringing bassline, Jason Simon drawls out a string of languidly dissatisfied lyrics: "Their silence is golden/they watch their man... the sun shines away/there's nothing to say/people will talk anyway...."

They try out a tighter sound in the follow-up, the stripped-down Southern-rocker "Between Me and the Ground," before winding into the fuzzy, darkly angular "What Needs Must Be." Those two sets a certain sound that they continue throughout the album -- ominous dark hard-rock, languid bass-twisters, eerie fantastical folk-rock, some low-burning rockers.

They even mix in a couple of uneasy, relatively gentle little ballads, tinged with some electric guitar but mostly acoustic. And one of their most striking songs is "Seven Seers," a sinuous little folk melody played with some flickers of grimy keyboard. Think medieval hard rock with a bit of metal here and there. Sure, it resembles nothing else in the album, but it's pretty good.

It must be admitted that "Old Growth" doesn't really grow in any particular direction -- like Dead Meadows' last album "Feathers," they grind through dark, earthy stoner-rock, without the need to throw in catchiness or artificial highs. But they do it so well, so powerfully, that lack of change really doesn't affect them. It's just such good music, with very powerful musical skills and solidly written lyrics.

And that comes from the instrumentation -- a dark, simmering, sometimes blazing sea of guitars and bass. These guys don't try to show off, but they fill their music with powerful ringing riffs that twist into blazing melodies, paired with fuzzy muscular bass that runs just underneath it. It's a little like being swept off by a very small tidal wave.

And of course it's riddled with solid drums, and a touch of Doors-esque keyboard to add an otherworldly flavour. But Dead Meadow injects a couple other sounds -- they dabble in a mellow acoustic guitar from time to time, and even add a bit of sitar to their harder melodies, giving it a retro flavour.

I have to confess, I often can't understand what Simon is singing. His rough, lazy-sounding voice drawls through the music as if he's just been woken up, but you can hear glimpses of dark, languid lyrics with a fantastical edge: "No longer knowing night from day/I woke with the stars/I think you know your radiant form/pierces the dark..."

Dead Meadow doesn't go anywhere new in "Old Growth," but they continue the weird, wild, exquisitely hard style that they've done so well in the past. Definitely grows on you.

i felt 'feathers' was a great album by this group. this one is as good, but like feathers, it takes a few listens to get it. it is worth it. i was a little concerned that they would sound stifled as a trio, after the fullness of the quartet sound. in some ways, they are, as this is sort of all one guy's sound, vocal and guitar wise. i liked the second guitar player, and the interchange between the two [ they need me in the group]. if you like the dead meadow feathers sound, you should love this. i found the shivering king album to be too abrasive and hard as a whole. of course there are great songs on it, as well, but these 2 records strike the right balance of hard, soft, psychedelic, and heaviness that i really like. a word about this group live. i like their albums so much, that when they came to the music hall in williamsburg [brooklyn], i was really excited to see them. no way they were going to be bad. well........ let's just hope they had a very bad night. by the show's end the place had gradually emptied out. they were too loud , badly mixed, out of tune, tuning up ON STAGE, and had amp malfunctions. they were more like the shivering king group, and confirmed my worst fears that they really need another guitar player and singer to make it more interesting, and to do the songs justice. they could be a very big group if they go in that direction. as a very hard rock, very loud, unprofessional, no nuance trio, they don't stand a chance, which would be a shame, because this is a great group, and this is a great album.