Black Tusk Taste the Sin

In the muggy metal universe of Savannah, Georgia, Baroness is sort of like a planet, with its complex atmospheres, changing climates, and various geological layers (an outer crust, molten rock, a dense, pressurized core). Black Tusk is more of an asteroid: No layers – just pure hardcore and metal, evaluated mainly in terms of the destruction it causes. And while Taste the Sin, their debut LP for Relapse Records, may not completely obliterate a major city, it will certainly leave quite a crater.

The burly drumming and scrum-covered power chord riffs of opener Embrace the Madness posses the vicious kick of the bottom half of early High on Fire. No harmonized twin guitar solos, no acoustic guitar interludes, and definitely no keys or strings. What the songs may lack in brains, though, they make up for in legs and lower torso.

The cover art, by Baroness’s John Baizley (who has made illustrations for Pig Destroyer, Kylesa, and Flight of the Conchords) features a woman the band members call Agatha, who has become their mascot in the same way that Eddie became the symbol for Iron Maiden. Just as Eddie’s mixture of camp and creepiness fit perfectly with Maiden’s music, the image Agatha as interpreted by Baizley matches the blend of lust, virility, death, and violence at the core of this band’s primarily id-based record. Rather than rewrite the metal clichés, they embrace each one, right down to the skulls and serpents.

All three band members lend vocals to Red Eyes, Black Skies. Bassist Jonathan Athon’s baritone growl balances the shrill howl of guitarist Andrew Fidler, and drummer James May puts in his two cents screaming the song’s title. There’s no melody to speak of; the melodicism comes through the drumming.

Describing the Savannah sound, May once told the Pittsburgh City Paper, "When you're playing in such a hot place, it's so humid all the time, it's really hard to not make heavy music." There’s definitely some swap-like humidity to Black Tusk’s instrumentation due to its emphasis on the low frequencies, and some of the band’s force gets lost in the fog. However, they regain their momentum with the four-part suite, Double Clutchin’, that closes the album, beginning with the instrumental, Redline. Takeoff and The Ride continue the (utterly male) theme of motor vehicle racing, building up torque until The Crash ("Wreckage... The mess of twisted steel!").

Some versions of the Taste the Sin include a cover of Toe Fry, a song originally penned by sludge metal patriarchs Buzzov-en. The sampling of a speech from Harold and Maude, in which Uncle Victor describes the glory of war, fits perfectly with the album’s over-arching themes of violence and the satisfaction derived from it. Furthermore, the line about getting back to “the kind of enemy worth killing and the kind of war this country can support,” marks one of those rare moments in which metal becomes noticeably topical. It also advances the idea that every anti-war film, book, and song can easily be interpreted as pro-war. Of course, the sample was Buzzov-en’s idea, but Black Tusk has never claimed originality. It can, however, claim to kick ass.