I came across Wellington-based Sidewinder last year when I was asked to review their “Walk of Ishi” single and was mightily impressed with what I was hearing, so even though someone else grabbed the album to review for MNNZ I was determined that I was also going to add my thoughts to the throng. Drummer Corey Mudge recorded many of the songs before departing, being replaced by Grant Lister who completed the task, with the rest of the line-up being Jason Curtis (vocals), Ben Sargent (guitar), Thomas Rousell (guitar) and Sean Fitzpatrick (bass). The result is everything which was promised from the single, namely an album which contains groove laden bluesy desert rock with a grungy, southern twist (to be fair, they do hail from the southernmost capital city in the world).

This is absolutely filthy, with drums which crunch, a bass which can be distorted and sitting on top of those to create a foundation or allowed to provide nuances (such as on “99 MPH”), twin guitars which lock in tight with that grunty sound to amplify it and take it further, and then on top of it all are vocals which provide just the right amount of cut through and breadth. There are times when they slow it down and become mellow, but there are others when they create a wall of stoner sound which makes one wonder for the health of the speakers and if the neighbours next door are enjoying it as much as I am. Inspired by the likes of Kyuss, there are also doom elements contained within this which come from the masters themselves, but it is not as menacing as one might expect as there is a groove within this, although often slowed right down, which makes this quite an experience.

I have yet to catch this band live, but hope I am able to do so when they make it up to Auckland, as I am pretty sure it will be one of the loudest gigs I have been to, as this is an album which refuses to be played at mediocre volumes so what on earth is it going to be like at a gig? If I wanted to play an album at earth shattering sound to destroy a building through vibrations it would be this one. I do need to also call out James Goldsmith (recording and mixing) and Mike Gibson (mastering) as they have captured a mighty beast and let the world see its power.

Rating: 9/10

Links:
https://sidewinderband.nz/