Concept albums inspired by novels are usually heady, intellectual affairs full of deep meaning and serious thought, with not a lot of room for humour. Mississippi Bones do not adhere to that train of thought however, and when the six piece stoner rockers from Ada, Ohio, decided to tackle a concept they chose to base it around Jonathan Raab's "The Hillbilly Moonshine Massacre", one of the craziest, funniest, surreal novels ever set to print, and to write it from the perspective of one of the novel's main characters, Sheriff Cecil Kotto, and his conspiracy theory radio show.
This is "Radio Free Conspiracy Theory" grab a beer, relax and let Mississippi Bones treat you to one of the funniest, rockiest concepts albums ever recorded.
Structured as "live" broadcast, with Sheriff Kotto airing his thoughts on various conspiracies and theories, hosting a phone in while also trying to deal with a real life X-files like crisis happening on his own doorstep, "Radio Free Conspiracy Theory" is a masterpiece of audial storytelling and musical execution that sees Mississippi Bones supplying the musical interludes to Kotto's DJ'ing, theorising and general all round Earth saving. The fact that Mississippi Bones drafted in the novelist Jonathan Raab to help write the "radio" passages between each song, as well as employing a whole slew of actors to voice the various characters phoning in, adds a whole new dimension to this project. However this project would not work without the excellent southern tinted stonerized grooves Mississippi Bones interrupt Kotto's musings and theories with, and while we are talking about the music, let's address the elephant in the room and get one thing out of the way before we start. The criticism that is bound to be levelled at this album, and for that matter Mississippi Bones sound in general, is that they sound both dynamically, musically and vocally similar to Clutch, there is no getting away from this, those similarities are undeniably there for all to hear, and so the best thing to do is either accept the fact, and enjoy what Mississippi Bones do, or go find something else to listen to. Desert Psychlist highly recommends doing the former, let's face it who could not love a band, who in a song called "101 Ways To Cook A Human", insert the lyric "They call us monsters, but who cares what dinner thinks? "
Do yourselves a favour, put aside your Clutch sized reservations and just enjoy Mississippi Bones' "Radio Free Conspiracy Theory" for what it is, a damn fine rock record based around a brilliantly funny and thought provoking concept that combines both story and music in a unique and highly enjoyable way.
Check it out ….
Sheriff Cecil Kotto
Mississippi Bones© 2018 Frazer Jones
You make it seem like sounding similar to Clutch is a bad thing.
ReplyDeleteNo just stating that sounding like Clutch is a criticism that is bound to be levelled at them.
DeleteI heard Bones before I knew who Clutch was. They’re both great but I prefer Mississippi Bones. And this IS a great album. Heaviest overall since Tracks.
ReplyDelete