Legend of The Seagullmen – Legend of The Seagullmen

Legend of The Seagullmen – Legend of The Seagullmen

Dine Alone – 2018

Rock, Metal

Rated: ***

Apparently, we have Josh Homme to thank for the maritime metal supergroup called Legend of The Seagullmen. The project came into existence when the aforementioned Queens Of The Stone Age mastermind introduced Brent Hinds from Mastodon to filmmaker and guitar player Jimmy Hayward from Jonah Hex. Soon they found vocalist David Dreyer and the ideas for a ‘nautical spaghetti western’ were flying high! The result is here and also features Tool drummer Danny Carey and Zappa Plays Zappa bassist Peter Griffin. The crazies have delivered a self-titled debut with eight tracks that seem inspired by bands like Rainbow and Black Sabbath. Seventies psychedelic, but then metallic and hot sauced with seafaring craziness and stormy tales of woe. There are parts of the record that come across as drunken and marooned. Some guitar parts sound unfinished or like a rough sketch. As do some of the vocals; as if the fun in the studio was a bit too much for the ol’ boys! But that audible fun is also the main charm of the album. The vintage metal sound, the concept and the theatrical hymns entertain, and one cannot help but want to enlist with the Seagullmen and travel the oceans!

(Written by JK)

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Giraffe Tongue Orchestra – Broken Lines

Giraffe Tongue Orchestra – Broken Lines

Party Smasher Inc/V2 – 2016

Rock, Hard, Prog

Rated: ****

When I first learned about this project it still featured or was rumored to feature Juliette Lewis on vocals. It would have truly made this supergroup something to look forward to. When she dropped out my lust for the Giraffe Tongue Orchestra weakened. But luckily, the beast still wandered into my path. For come on, you cannot pass over on a band featuring guitarist Brent Hinds (Mastodon), vocalist William DuVall (Alice In Chains), guitarist Benjamin Weinman (Dillinger Escape Plan), drummer Thomas Prigden (Mars Volta) and Pete Griffin (Dethklok, Zappa Plays Zappa). O’ and Jon Theodore (Queens Of The Stone Age, Mars Volta) also guests on two tracks. The honor roll sounds like a veritable playground of intricate compositions and a whirlwind tornado of riffs, notes and tones. But this time around these fiends who love to freak out with their respective bands have kept the extremes to a minimum. They’ve actually managed to pour their challenging technic displays into something easier to digest and mixed with much simpler straight to the core rock songs. Or even almost danceable grooves with songs like Blood Moon and Everyone Gets Everything They Really Want. But we must conceded that Duvall sounds excellent on almost every track and even seems to push his boundaries. Not to mention the ace duo vocals of him and Hinds on No-one Is Innocent. Does all of this make us forget that the Broken Lines album might have been completely different with Miss Lewis on vocals? Perhaps not, because we still get a tiny taste when she does background for the Back To The Light song. And perhaps so, cause with ten highly different tracks and atmospheres we can safely say there is enough for everyone and a lot for a lot of us. Hell, Giraffe Tongue Orchestra might just win all of us over…

(Written by JK)

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