Fuzz Evil - Fuzz Evil

Fuzz Evil are a trio comprised of members of Powered Wig Machine - brothers Wayne & Joseph Rudell handle bass and guitar & vocals respectively and Daniel Graves drums. The Austin-based group have been around for a couple of years and prior to this release have two 7"s to their credit.

On the evidence presented across the six tracks that make up Fuzz Evil they're not pushing the stoner/power trio dynamic in any new directions. The inclusion of Unida's Arthur Seay on opening track 'Good Medicine' fails to elevate the song to any great height but, at least until it's messy ending, second number 'My Fuzz' rocks along well. Perhaps it's just the production to blame.

Thereafter the group make a good fist of things despite kind of weak vocals on 'Killing The Sun'. Pace-wise the songs are more often than not under-driven for my taste but generally they have a good guitar sound and when they have a good riff between their teeth they don't easily give it up. The fact that the songs are arranged largely so each is longer than the one before gives you an idea of the level of thought put into the overall construction of the release.

Full-on fans of desert stoner rock will though no doubt find a lot more to love here than I did & maybe getting baked before playing it would be an idea for the future. Final track 'Black Dread', clocking in at just under seven minutes and with the inclusion of keyboards, seals things off well and shows there's more in the band's arsenal than a cursory listen would have you believe. Nothing new then but neither is it the same old story either.

Fuzz Evil is available from Battleground Records.