This is a local ‘supergroup’ of sorts, featuring former members of departed Melbourne bands such as .Hinge, Tailbone and others. From the two mentioned bands, Red Sky Burial is closer, stylistically, to Tailbone, being louder and gnarlier than .Hinge’s more ambient and alternative rock sounds. But it is still a very different beast.
In fact, beast is a very apt term to use when describing the new band’s sound. Melbourne has had a great history of producing great, tough-as-nails rock bands. Bands that knock on the door of metal, maybe stick a tentative toe in every now and then, but never really fully immerse themselves in the genre. Whatever the case, Red Sky Burial, like Tailbone before them, are about as heavy and brutal as rock music can get.
Check out second track Time Heals Nothing, which is an adrenaline rush of a song with a massive chorus that hits you right between the eyes. But there’s plenty more going on here beyond balls-to-the-wall rock, such as Dark City Dead Man, which starts quietly and morphs into a fat, slow burning bluesy groove.
This release is seven tracks, so it’s kind of too long to be an EP and too short to be a full album. But who cares when the content is this good? It turns out that it suits the band to a tee, it’s long enough for them to stretch out and show some of the aforementioned dynamics and variation, but it doesn’t outstay its welcome.
This is nasty, vicious rock music that lovers of the style can really sink their teeth into.
BY ROD WHITFIELD
Best Track: Time Heals Nothing
If You Like These, You’ll Like This: MOTORHEAD, DREADNAUGHT, KYUSS
In A Word: Unpretty
