Funny how hearing hearing a voice can sometimes place an image in the minds eye that stays there even after seeing pictures or even meeting the owner of that voice and this is the case with Diamond Neal, singer with Canadian outfit BirdDog. In Desert Psychlist's collective mind Neal's voice conjures up visions of a bearded white haired dude wearing a weather beaten baseball cap, dishevelled clothes and cowboy boots, the sort of man you could imagine running a remote gas station or being one of those cantankerous cooks you often see in old westerns. Of course Neal is nothing like the picture we have painted in our heads, in fact he is the polar opposite, but it is his raw lived in ones that has placed those aforementioned images in our heads, a voice that is a little bit Earthride era Dave Sherman and a lot Left Lane Cruiser's Joe Evans IV. Neal is joined in BirdDog by Ray Dickman (guitar) and Eric Dickman (bass), who some may remember from the band Electric Ruin, and drummer Andrew Barr and together they create a noise that is a blend of hoary stoner/hard rock, southern tinted blues boogie and thrumming proto metal, a sound you can check out for yourselves by taking their newly released self- titled studio debut "BirdDog" for a spin.
"Out Of The City" kicks things off with choppy slightly distorted guitar textures supported by low booming bass lines and solid unfussy drumming over which Neal warbles throatily on the trials and tribulations of urban living in a voice that sounds like its owner has indulged in too much of just about everything, The song features a scorching guitar solo from R, Dickman followed by another burst of vocal throatiness from Neal but then just stops dead, no fade out or lingering notes just an abrupt and unexpected full stop. We mentioned Left Lane Cruiser in the opening part of this review and if you stripped back next number "Medicine" to just voice, guitar and drums then what you would be left with would easily fit on one of that bands early albums, E. Dickman introduces next song "Lone Survivor" with a deliciously gnarly bass refrain which is then joined by some thunderous drum work from Barr around which R. Dickman layers siren like effects before adding his weight to the main riff. The songs groove settles down into something approaching proto-doomic when Neal's distinctive vocals join the fray but its is a doom drenched in gut rot whiskey and hand rolled cigarettes, or it at least feels that way! "Feel Like A Bug" finds BirdDog staying in doomic territories but with an element of stoner/hard rock grittiness thrown in while "Nervosis" takes that stoner/hard rock grittiness and mixes it with some down home bluesy boogie over which Neal waxes lyrical about "smoking lots of cigarettes" while wishing he were "a better man". Final song "Know Who You Are" is a rip roaring strident rocker with an ear catching, if somewhat abrasive, vocal melody, that brings to a close a thoroughly enjoyable release that pretends to be nothing other than just what it is.
Ok BirdDog are not trying to re-invent any wheels with their debut but not every release has to be about pushing boundaries or breaking through glass ceilings, we tend to dissect and examine music far too much these days and we forget that music is supposed to be an enjoyable pastime. Of course there is a place for albums and EP's that impart messages, that challenge and extend musical frontiers but BirdDog's studio debut is not one of them, this is a release that's more about the groove than the gravitas and there is ALWAYS a place for that!
Check it out .....
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