With a refreshing reliance on catchy riffery as well as all-out brutality, Brainoil have that extra-special something so many stoner-rock bands seem to miss. Their M.O. is an awesomely nasty, sludgy form of hardcore, downtuned to fuck (even at 45 rpm!), probably using the wires holding up the Golden Gate suspension bridge that joins their native Oakland to San Francisco as guitar strings. There is still a neat seam of melody running through the whole thing that doesn’t compromise the hardness, though that is most definitely not present in the screamed vocals provided by all three members, who incidentally have served time in several other similarly excellent outfits such as Lana Dagales and Watch Them Die. An utterly promising debut (which has been out for a long time, but I only heard it recently).
