Trippy Wicked - Lowering The Tone - CD (2008)

Labels: self released
Review by: Alex Deller

Kinda frustrating release here from these St Albans lads as it shows some meaty promise but doesn’t quite deliver the goods. The basic deal’d be good ol’ stoner rock, with low-tuned riffing that effectively employs everything from the woozy stumble n’ lurch of a less-fucked Electric Wizard to a rolling Josh Homme rumble. While that’s all nice enough the dealbreaker for a lot of folks will doubtless be their singer’s, umm, noteworthy set of pipes, coming across somewhere between a fuckwitted Ozzy yodel and Layne Staley warming up for a particularly addled version of “Rooster.” As you might’ve guessed, whilst proceedings are occasionally fun, some of it “” particularly the questionable yo-ho-ho-ing of “Sea Shanty” “” is ill-conceived and a big ol’ chunk is just plain-out bad. Wonky at best, then, but with scope for better things down the line if they don’t smoke away all their half-decent ideas before the next stumble into the studio.