Reaver – “Twelve Month Sons”
Reaver is a groove metal band.
Groove metal is defined as “a subgenre of heavy metal that takes the intensity and sonic qualities of thrash metal and plays them at mid-tempo, making only occasional forays into fast tempos.”
Now, at first I misread them as a “groovy metal band” which I thought was something pretty exciting.
I thought- “Well, that’s different!” I envisioned all these happy, peace and love vibes in the lyrics smashing headlong into some extremely aggressive metal music.
Who needs barking, hardcore vocals when you can have some soothing, folk melodies sprinkled on top of the music. “C’mon everybody, let’s get together and try to love one and another right now.” While a bulldozer of metal chords slices the top of your head away!
Ah! …but one can only dream.
But what this band is, is actually not a bad consequence or a review by a mind that took too much brown mescaline at Woodstock.
This is music that uses the slashing notes and powerful rhythms of thrash (one of my favorite metal genres) and puts it into a more headbanging groove. (And I do like a lot of “groove music. I’m thinking James Brown, Parliament/Funkadelic/ Kraftwerk!”)
And no, this does not sound like James Brown fronting Slayer or Neil Young fronting Metallica but it sounds “Super Bad” as James said. And that means “really good.” You know, like you say sick or stupid.
I say we give their cd a listen and get in the groove:
“Psycholic,” starts with four slashing chords that could fit in firmly, in a garage rock setting, but here it’s in an explosive metal groove. “And misery loves company, pass that bottle around.” This song lurches and pulls much like a drunk trying to keep his bearings. Lotsa angst, aggression and loping, hard hitting energy is here for you to imbibe in this song. “I just can’t see straight now.” But I can hear a cool breakdown along the way, with descending bass runs and a modified swing beat on the drums. Along with some cascading, guitar riffs that recall the best of Frank Zappa or King Crimson to me. I may, possibly be, a psychotic drunk- that’s not a big revelation. But I can think straight enough to see how terrific this song is, my favorite on the album.
Starting with a long, descending guitar line, “Great White Buffalo,” enters with a simple, but effective, bass and drum beat. Some stuttering guitar leads into some exasperated, emotional black and death metal vocals that arise, sometimes in unison. The beat rocks awesomely along with the inspiring, guitar lick. And there’s a verse with a rap like vocal that builds the tension and energy as it rolls along.
With a tremendous, funky, jungle beat “Disobey” erupts with raging and emphatic vocals that lead to an alternative/grunge like chorus. “I only hope that you disobey. I only pray that we know. And if we learn from our mistakes. From them, we must grow.” There’s a rap like verse that follows that recalls Rage Against The Machine at their finest. An amazing, guitar solo rises up leading into a fiery, emotional verse. This song ends with the vocals bellowing ferociously- a fitting end to a fearsomely, fabulous tune.
Starting with a low chuggin’ bass along with nice, drum accents “Posi Heater” is eventually met by a low chuggin’ guitar splaying out a neat, assortment of notes followed by a melodic vocal. This is a grooving, melodious number that recalls to me the song, “Heartbreaker” by Pat Benatar! But that’s not a bad influence in my book as that is a decent, rockin’ song. Soon things get a bit more heated with the vocals but the groove remains hard and strong. This is a straight forward, poised, pure and passionate and a near perfect song.
A reaver is a “floundering forager.” A forager is a person or animal that searches wildly for food or provisions. If you’re looking for food or provisions you need not my advice. Certainly, there must be a lot of fast food and chain restaurants selling their poison nearby you. I recommend you avoid all of these, eat healthy and exercise and also, to drink at least as half as much as me.
And I may be drunk now but even if I am, I’d have to be incoherent not to recognize the wealth of music and sounds on this cd.
This is some great, metal related music however you categorize it
I will simply stick with the label of “great.”
(Slimedog)
