RED EYED CULT ~ UNIT 61 ..... review

Gather ye Weedians, Hashishians and Lungsmen and climb aboard the caravan to the riff filled land of Norwich, UK where a new breed of Creedsmen are erecting a bong shaped temple in honour of the holy leaf, these new priests go by the name Red Eyed Cult and impart their wisdom via the medium of music, teachings that can be found residing within the grooves of their latest missive "Unit 61".

Red Eyed Cult, Lewis Doran (bass/vocals); Max Lungley (guitar) and John Franks (drums), site their influences as Sleep, High On Fire and Weedeater as well as such 70's giants as Mountain, Blue Oyster Cult and Black Sabbath and although it is the first three of those influences that informs the greater part of the music offered up on "Unit 61" it is also not hard to pick out the elements Red Eyed Cult have cherrypicked from the last three. Don't however expect to hear an Ozzy- like clean nasal whine or a Leslie West bluesy holler gracing the grooves Red Eyed Cult lay before us, the vocals served up on songs like "Mithrandir","Up In Smoke","Grogg", "Hammerhands" and "Snowcone" are of the type a throat surgeon would be at pains NOT to recommend, larynx wrecking and raspy, not quite demonic but sailing pretty close to that level of harshness. It is however beneath those tonsil tearing vocal tones that the real surprises happen, it is here where you will find those 70's influences really making their presence felt with the drums and bass combining to create a swing not often found in modern metal these days and the guitar tones dialled to a vintage crunch rather than a heavy modern thrum. Of course given that the bands music resides in the canon of weedian flavoured stoner metal, sludge and doom the albums lyrical themes reference all the usual weed and wizards cliches but they also posses a little tongue in cheek grizzled stoner humour, you can't help but smile at a line like "Ahhh you fucked with a wizard, You better grab all your shit and leave before your dead" ("Mithrandir") or "place your heads on fucking pikes and throw them at his castle wall".("Grogg"), all of which proves that it is possible to be heavy and still have a little fun with it.

Red Eyed Cult decided to call their debut EP "Unit 61" due to the fact that it was recorded at Bomb Store Studios, a studio located on the site where Britain's first nuclear bomb was built and now bears that address, which when you think about is a very apt title given the explosive nature of the grooves it contains 

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