Barbarian Hermit and Sidewinder almost passed me by. If you listen to a steady diet of bands from the Heavy Underground, let alone write about the scene, you’re going to get a bit jaded. It’s normal, totally to be expected, and there’s absolutely nothing you can do about it. “Highly Anticipated” bands become the norm, and we pretty much know what to expect.
After a while, you can almost write your top 10 of any given a month without actually listening to anything. (We NEVER DO THAT, but I’ve seen enough AI generated reviews this year to know it’s a regular occurrence.) My point is, the truly great albums that define a year can be obvious months before they are even released.
Except for when they’re not…
Every year there’s one or two bands that just blow expectations completely out of the water, take everyone off guard, and make an extremely loud and an escapable impression. Once or twice a year this is what’s gonna happen, and that’s what keeps the Heavy Underground so damn damn exciting. But two in one month? Inconceivable…
Caught off Guard: Barbarian Hermit and Sidewinder
Sidewinder – Talons
The Wellington, New Zealand band Sidewinder is not to be trifled with. The description on their Bandcamp Page reads, “A Wall of Riff-Heavy Psych, With Lashings of Delta Blues.” Indeed, and I’ve read that description about 1000 times before. Usually from extremely good bands, like Birdstone and Scorched Oak. I don’t take it lightly, but I’m kinda used to it, you know what I mean?
Yeah…. uh…no.
That’s like describing Elder as “a wall of Sabbath riffs with a hint of progressive,” or Thou as “a metal band with a slight touch of blackened doom.” They work, but don’t even begin to convey what’s going on in the music.
First track Guardians is the perfect opener, since it tells you everything you need to know going forward. Delta Blues- check. Wall of riffs? check. And then Sidewinder hits you in your most vulnerable spot with the heaviest, most intense groove I’ve heard in ages.
I remember the first time I heard Slo Burn and then Unida. John Garcia’s bands after Kyuss simply did not give a fuck. However they do it, Sidewinder replicates a feel I never thought I’d experience again. Sure, in doses of greatness here and there. but not with hit over the head no fucks given attitude.
Sidewinder’s Talons is 100% attitude. It shows in their musicianship, their production, their performances, and their songwriting. This is the traditional blues-based heavy rock we call Stoner (though it feels a bit more like Fosters or Thomson South Island Peat.) There’s nothing “cheap” or “easy” about this band: this is the sound of an band with decades of experience behind them.
I’m not going to belabor the obvious and and go song-by-song to show off that I know the equivalent of 50 words for snow. But the recording is fantastic: clean and detailed without sounding like it was created with a Pro-Tools plugin. If it was, my hats off to the engineering and mixing. Every member of the band gets a chance to shine, from solid rhythm guitar, tasteful and emotive lead guitar playing with nasty as a sidewinder bass and deceptively powerful drumming. It’s all here.
AND you get the vocals of Jem in what is the break-out performance of the year. I haven’t heard an out of nowhere release like this since Holy Grove released Holy Grove II and Andrea Vidal disrupted 2018. Like Holy Grove, she’s got a band around her that can keep up with her chops, which doesn’t seem like an easy thing to do.
In case there’s any question or ambiguity about how we feel about female vocals, this states it pretty well:
Barbarian Hermit – Mean Sugar
I didn’t write the majority of the Top Stoner/Doom Albums for August. In full disclosure, I passed right by Barbarian Hermit’s Mean Sugar. It was a minor blip on my radar. My saving grace is a discipline that’s been part of my work for the past few years: I always listen to the albums as I write them up, and again before I send the final list to the Doom Charts. Traditionally that gets posted on our sister site Cleanandsoberstoner.com, although the Top 100 for 2024 will be published here on Monster Riff.
Anyway, I left them off the list even though Rev had them at #3. But something nagged at me, and I put on the last song o n the album, Heal the Tyrant. It took about 5 seconds to realize my mistake, and the full 7:39 to realize my Top 10 was about to get severely rearranged.
Goosebumps cannot be faked, and the second the Levy Choir came in with their haunting accompaniment to the main vocals, I had that instant connection where a band, a song, becomes an indelible part into my soundtrack for 2024. Nothing became more important to me than diving into this album I nearly swatted to the side as an afterthought.
Mean Sugar is a glorious mixture of clean/harsh, tradition/experiment, light/dark, mad/cool. It’s a humble album in many ways, but exudes greatness. Barbarian Hermit writes anthems that avoid the cringe. Even I admit that Rock and Roll has lost its relevancy in todays algorithm-based marketplace. But for the hundreds of people who know this band, and Mean Sugar, it’s hard to think of a recording more relevant than this is.
In spirit, it lies somewhere between Orange Goblin and Midnight Whiskey Massacre with a slight hint of King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. It has just enough humor to keep it from jumping off a cliff. Even more, there’s a humanity to it that prevents it from being preachy or pedantic.
Make no mistake, this is a HEAVY-ass recording with serious Monster Riffs. Head-banging will ensue, and many a fist will pump triumphantly in the air to this. As long as they know about it hear it in all it’s Heavy Rawk glory. I’m not a fan, personally or professionally, of doing a song-by-song breakdown. There are times when it’s called for, but generally anything I have to write about it is a pale imitation of what’s contained in the music.
So, if I write anymore I’ll ruin it. But I sincerely believe, if you put this on and listen to it, it’s going to kick you right where you need to be kicked.
Conclusion
Sidewinder and Barbarian Hermit face the same issues and barriers that every band faces today. It does’t matter if you’re in Toledo, Ohio or Latvia. Being heard is a bitch, no matter how great your album us. Both Sidewinder and Barbarian Hermit almost slipped by me, and I’m not sure even making it onto the Doom Charts would have made a difference. Both Talons and Mean Sugar are strong album of the year contenders. I want to do everything I can to make sure they get heard.