Brownout – Presents Brown Sabbath

Brownout – Presents Brown Sabbath

Ubiquity Records – 2014

Hard Rock, Funk Doom, Metal

Rated: ****

Brown Sabbath is the alter ego of Austin-based Brownout, delving into the catalog of the Hard Rock and Heavy Metal godfathers themselves Black Sabbath. “Hand Of Doom” featuring Black Angels singer Alex Maas on vocals is the lead-off single with “The Wizard” on the flip, pressed on limited colored splatter 10inch. Don’t you hate these wanky tribute albums that reinterpret a bands music with novelty results? You know the sort of thing – a piano concerto of “Master Of Puppets” or a bluegrass tribute to AC/DC. It never works and only ever gets played once. There have been only two exceptions – (don’t bother telling me about other ones, this is my review) – Easy Star All Stars – “Dub Side Of The Moon” (okay and probably the Flaming Lips version) and Beautiful People with the Hendrix samples “If 60’s Were the 90’s”. Here at last is one more to add to that tiny list. Brownout cover Sabbath with a genuine feel and love that just oozes with groove and power. With 7 tracks taken from the 1st four Sabbath albums, fuzz laden guitars and Ozzy vocals still abound but now with a screaming horn section and congas to bring a new dimension to well-loved songs. Before you recoil from the word “funk” – this is not the watered down shit which is passed off today as a genre but raw, bad ass vintage 70’s vibes that make me want to growl “muthafucka” a lot. Early Iommi riffs were earthy, primitive blues slowed down and beefed up with huge volume and a sonic hugeness unheard of before. Now take those tunes and add brass to them – the groove is already there dude, “The Wizard” always make me move like a St Vitus victim, now more so. This will not be for everyone but hey, try something outside your comfort zone – What is this that stands before me? Figure in black which points at me. This ain’t no party, this ain’t no disco, this ain’t no fooling around!

(Written by Tony)

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