Listening to Melbourne three-piece stoner rock group Drifter’s debut album Violent at Altitude is a little bit like cracking a tinnie on public transport: outwardly rebellious, internally satisfying and a big ‘fuck you’ to the status quo.
Opening song Another You is a real cruiser that’s belied by a dark leitmotif, it also pays homage to the origins of stoner rock with a Kyuss like ‘slowburn’ drawl to the vocals, rattling guitar plucking on the intro and a Wild West lyrical content: “You’re out of control / You pull a gun too fast.” Bi Polar is a highlight with its instrumental and vocal phasing between soft and hard, light and dark, manic and depression – “Nothing right should feel this wrong.”
As is the modus operandi with your typical stoner album there’s an instrumental track: Devil Digger. Coming in at 3 minutes 50, one would imagine that when it was conceived in a rehearsal space by Dan King (vocals/guitar), Troy Dawson (bass) and Dave Payne (drums) that they were locked in this song’s groove for much longer. The song Drugs is an upbeat charger that implies the title is probably paying homage to those of the amphetamine persuasion as opposed to opiates. Having seen Drifter live, I know the full impact of the faster numbers is lost a little on this recording which is a shame because, as witnessed by their sold-out Violent at Altitude launch at Old Bar, many are switched on to the fact Drifter are a hard hitting live band.
Other album highlights include the brutally cutesy Prisoners and the title track that also closes out this excellent 35 minutes of music. In a local climate where most bands are trying to be next King Gizzard, Violent at Altitude is refreshing and a must have for fans of Melbourne made stoner rock and metal. To be honest, I haven’t been this excited about a local harder edged act since Bugdust.
BY DAN WATT
