Sod Hauler - Sod Hauler

(Inimical Records, 2003)

http://www.myspace.com/sodhauler

Reviewed by Jimmy “Explosive Diarrhea” B

I have been patiently waiting for the past two years for this day, the day I would write a Sod Hauler review. I have a beef, you see, with the drummer. I took my darling wife with me to see Paranaut and Sod Hauler in Portland, OR. You may not realize this about me, but I am a chivalrous dude. I pulled out Mrs. B’s chair and bellied up to the bar so she could rest her beautiful little feet. In my absence Sod Hauler’s drummer inched his way over, and set his beer down next to my better half. I know what he was thinking; it went a little like this, “Oh my god, a girl! The stars have aligned, there is a girl at a doom show!” And then he thought, “fuck, be cool, sidle away from the table like nothing is happening. Shit!” You see, at the moment when he was pulling out a chair to begin scaring the most rare of creatures, a girl at a doom show, I walked over and sat down. I pretended that I didn’t know what was happening, but I haven’t forgotten, and now, you purveyor of the sticks, I am about to get my revenge.

I was turned on to Sod Hauler through the Seismic Emanations festival in Portland, Oregon (and apparently the drummer was turned on by my wife’s sexual emanations). When Sod Hauler came on stage and Josh, the vocalist and guitar player, hit his first chord I heard someone next to me say, “Jesus, that guitar sound is ridiculously heavy!” Was it ridiculous or was it brilliantly, bluesily heavy? I tend to think it was brilliant. Okay, so on to the review.

Everything about Sod Hauler’s self-titled release surprised me. The production is quite good. And, three out of the four tunes on the disc are all original and interesting (more on this later).

Sod Hauler’s style is Black Sabbath and Saint Vitus inspired heavy blues-rock. But, I don’t want to give you the impression that they are attempting to clone their influences. Sod Hauler doesn’t break into rock and roll romps or progressive moments the same way Black Sabbath did, nor do they stick to the ultra slow formula laid out by St. Vitus, but Josh has a similar playing style to St. Vitus’guitar player, Scott Weiner. There were moments on the album when I was afraid that Sod Hauler was going to turn drone or suffer from what I see as stoner metal’s biggest shortcoming, formulaic song structures. At the beginning of each song Sod Hauler lulls the listener into a trance and then unleashes some heavy riffing and the occasional kick ass guitar solo. They mix it up nicely with slow and fast parts. Normally when I listen to a doom or stoner album, my attention waxes and wanes. But, Sod Hauler held my attention for the duration of the album.

I am in danger of sticking my head all the way up Sod Hauler’s collective ass. But, I feel like I would be negligent in my reviewing duties if I didn’t point out Josh’s fantastic vocals. Nobody is going to confuse him with Roger Daltry or Ronnie James Dio, but he has a perfect voice for the style; the fit couldn’t be better.

There are a couple of blights on the record. First, the song Mother Trucker ventured too close to stoner metal cheese for my taste. Second, I get tired of the stoner/doom style of drumming. All a doom band drummer needs to be able to do is keep time and hit the cymbals. I don’t see this as a problem with Sod Hauler in Particular, but with the genre in general. Sod Hauler’s drummer does what he is supposed to do, which is to keep the songs at a snail’s pace, be boring, and let the guitar and vocals unfold.

To sum up the review thus far, the drummer attempted to violate my spouse, I took out my anger on the genre, and Sod Hauler has put out a terrific stoner/doom album. I am jonesing for more. I noticed on their Myspace page that they finally, after six years, put together another album – way too long between recordings.

Side note: I had a nice chat with the band after the Portland show. They are some cool, down to earth guys (particularly the drummer), worthy of support, and they rock!

I tickled my taint for 8 minutes.