BIG GAME HUNTER ~ TALES ....review

 

Danish quartet Big Game Hunter, current line up: Kalle E. Huusom (guitars/lead vocals); Mads Yde (guitars/vocals); Bastian Reinholdt Madsen (bass/vocals) and Jonas Virring (drums/vocals), have to date been teasing their audiences with a series of one off single and double track releases, this month however the band have gone one better by releasing "Tales" a THREE song EP so good we thought it deserved getting the full Desert Psychlist treatment.

# bassist at the time of this this recording was Hjalte Buch, who also contributed to the song writing

If you, like us, have a soft spot for stoner, doom and heavy psych that draws on 70's hard rock and blues while still retaining its grip on the here and now sounds of today's underground rock scene then the following three tracks are going to be so far up your street they'll be knocking on your door asking to come in. Opening number "Beast On Show" for example draws not only from the proto-doomic pool that birthed the likes of Black Sabbath, Pentagram and Saint Vitus but also from the more blues and psych orientated proto-metal that for a time ran beside it and that gave us bands as May Blitz, Atomic Rooster and Sir Lord Baltimore. We are of course talking big riffs, chunky rhythms, soaring bluesy solos and strong cleanly sung vocal melodies here but at the same time we are also getting the fuzziness and distortion that places this song firmly in the canon of modern day stoner and metal.  Second song "Psychedelic Sorcerer" is a devil horns throwing, nod inducing proto-metallic/heavy rock chug fest in possession of ear-pleasingly sing along vocal melodies and catchy guitar motifs that once they have  their hooks into you are hard to shake off, not that you would ever want to. For the EP's last song "The Night", Big Game Hunter play their atmospheric card with a song boasting fractured chord voicing and shimmering arpeggios ringing out majestically over subtle and restrained percussion and a grizzled deep bass motif the songs groove slowly building up in intensity until finally exploding into a doom and blues tinted stoner/heavy psych romp accompanied by powerful, soulfully angsty vocals, it's impressive stuff!

The great American entrepreneur/politician/showman P.T.Barnum lived his life by the mantra "always leave them wanting more" and that could well be the thinking behind Big Game Hunter's penchant for releasing their music in small bite -size portions. Whatever the bands reasoning there can be no doubting that after listening to the three songs that make up "Tales" there WILL be many hankering to hear more, and who knows maybe next time Big Game Hunter may even give us FOUR songs! 

Check 'em out.....

© 2024 Frazer Jones