Battle Jacket - Ghostcat

 

 

Battle Jacket - Ghostcat
Self-released - July 2021
Stoner, southern, desert, doom
Rated: ****

Idaho's stoner rockers Battle Jacket graced us earlier this year with killer debut "Cowboy Killers", and they've wasted no time following up with three song EP Ghostcat. Still maintaining the drawling, southern vibes from the first album, Battle Jacket have both cranked up the heavy and introduced new elements to their sound to create three new tracks of rip-roaring rock 'n roll.  Opener "Lemme Out" serves as a wryly winking anthem to surviving the pandemic in isolation, and following some initial Van Halen-style guitar fireworks, a driving stoner groove kicks in to put the bluesy pedal to the metal. Mastermind Kyle DeHart's vocals and lyrics were already a strong point on "Cowboy Killers", but he's stepped it up a notch or five on Ghostcat. Clever and playful without crossing the line into straight up "funny" songwriting, turns of phrase like "no tears just beers" and nods to watching too much British Bake Off are both catchy as hell and all too relatable. Turns out track one was merely the warm-up, however, for the subsequent title track and album highlight. Bursting out the gates with a canned roar (points for the album cover's Thundercats homage, by the way), rolling and hard-hitting scuzzy riffs blaze a sonic trail made for burning rubber. The pounding drums never let up in their thrust, and between the catchy vocal hooks, a curve ball of surf guitar acrobatics is thrown in the mix. The Dick Dale sound ends up fitting like a glove, bright and twanging as the licks wind their way between crunching heavier riffage. Finally, closer "Hang 'Em High" leans all the way into the southern rock influences and busts out beautiful slide guitar over half speed stomping fuzz. Partway through, the song shifts to grittier chug and rough gang vocals, creating an absolutely killer contrast. Battle Jacket are rapidly setting themselves up as a unique and all-out entertaining voice in stoner rock, and the sky looks to be the limit for DeHart and crew as they meld genres and melt faces with style.

(Written by Shasta Beast)

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