Glowing Brain - Brain Dust

 

 

Glowing Brain - Brain Dust
The Ghost Is Clear Records - December 2021
Stoner, punk, thrash, prog
Rated: ****

December is the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown month… But sometimes we do a weekend break… Like today… Because this album came out a week ago and Shasta wrote about it!  The Oakland, CA heavy scene is the gift that keeps on giving, and its latest treasure is self-described "long hair punks" Glowing Brain and their first full-length "Brain Dust". What's long hair punk, you say? Imagine Lemmy replaced his whiskey with weed but Motörhead lost none of their adrenaline, and throw in a nasty dash of prog riffage here and there and you'll have an idea. This is barn-burning, no-holds-barred, ripping rock and roll that punches you in the teeth with a good time. Opening minute-long track "Ripping Future" appropriately starts things off with a bang, doling out full throttle, thrashy stoner crunch at a million miles an hour. Shouted vocals cement the aggro vibes, and spidery solo bursts through the noise, setting the off-the-rails pace for the rest of the album. "Suffer Fools" responds in kind with a avalanche of drums, driving forward the scuzzy low end and thrashy twang, and concluding in a blinding solo just in case your head wasn't properly blown off yet. Fourth cut "Plastic World" keeps the party going while being slightly more subdued (relatively speaking), ending in a curveball of angular stop-start riffs and a simply monstrous breakdown. Highlight track "Everyone Higher Than Everyone Else" is only number five out of ten on the LP, but could easily be Glowing Brain's mission statement and crowd favorite. As anthemic as something this gnarly can be, the chorus is prime fist-pumping, pit-starting material. At the halfway point, however, the floor drops out from under the madness and the tune downshifts to a doomy pace, massive licks slowly ringing out over grumbling bass and swirling effects. A morose, epic solo brings it to a crashing end, and the catharsis is heavy and real. Glowing Brain will melt your face and start a denim-clad riot in your dingy hot-boxed basement, and you'll enjoy it, dammit.

(Written by Shasta Beast)

Bandcamp

Facebook

Instagram