One day in the not to distant future we at Desert Psychlist are going to have to set a day aside to really dig deep into the Indonesian underground scene and see what we can find because already little nuggets of gold are starting to work their way to the surface and make their presence felt internationally. Today we are going to be looking at one of those nuggets, a little gem of an album entitled "Warrizer" from a Bandung based quartet going by the name Jawless.
A deep rumbling bass line introduces first track "G.O.D (Genuine Obsessive Disruptive)" accompanied by subtle percussion and gently picked guitar arpeggios., slowly the tempo picking up pace until suddenly exploding into plodding Sabbath-esque groove. Now already we can hear the cries of " do we really need another Sabbath clone " but if you hold off those cries for just a minute and listen a little bit further into this track you will start to realise that the sabbathian elements of this song are just that "an element" and that there are other forces at work within this songs groove. Those forces include clean, slightly accented, vocals which are delivered in a metre and tone more in keeping with the vocals gracing the proto-metal of bands like May Blitz and Warhorse (UK) than they are with the proto-doomic nasal whine of Sabbath's Ozzy Osbourne, and guitar solos which are more Bourge (Budgie) than they are Iommi. Next track "War Is Come" tells a lyrical tale of war and its effects and boasts soaring blues tinted guitar solos that swoop and swirl over a thunderous backdrop of pounding drums and boneshaking bass. "Dark Muzzling" has a more introspective feel that sees the bands vocalist spouting thought provoking lyrical lines like "under the bludgeoning's of chance my head is bloody, but unbowed" and "I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul" over a groove that spits and snarls for most of its duration but then lays out languid and lysergic in its final stages. The lysergic feel of the previous tracks ending spills over into the intro of next song "Deceptive Events" but then explodes into a groove that although partly sabbathian in feel, due to its abrupt changes in time and dynamics, is far enough removed to have its own identity. "Bad Excursion" and "Metaphorical Speech" finds the band exploring a more heavy stoner sound albeit with classic/hard rock vocal melodies while "Restrained" sees the band getting a little experimental and wacky and boasts some really crazy arsed drumming that is anything but restrained. Final song "The Throne of Tramp" has all the makings of a great song, crunching doomic riffs and a good vocal, but seems to lack a little of the discipline of the albums previous songs and sounds a little chaotic and messy in places which is a shame as it would have been nice to have heard the band finish what is a really enjoyable album on a massive high.
© 2022 Frazer Jones
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