Before I've started writing anything, I'd like to give you a warning. The CD which I will review here is highly addictive and if you're afraid of listening to the same CDs over and over again - you'd better stay away from this, and close your ears every time you hear 1000mods' riffs anywhere. For those of you who don't have such fears - I'll continue.
The debut LP record by the Greece stoner-rockers (or jam rockers, or just excellent rockers) 1000mods is called "Super Van Vacation", and that's the name behind one of the best records of 2011 in my opinion. Here's a couple of things you should know about this record:
- It was produced by Billy Anderson (Sleep, Acid King, Weedeater...the list is impressive)
- It's played in drop C guitar tuning - the best damn tuning, to create a massive, heavy wall of sound
- It's conventionally divided into 2 parts - straightforward rock and jam oriented songs (a little bit more than 65 minutes of speaker destruction)
A couple of words about the atmosphere of the record. Well, it might be just my opinion, but it feels to me mostly like a desert. Silent, burning, stormy, wild, merciless, slow, cold - these characteristics describe it's condition at different times, as well as the music of the band in different moments.
1000mods is a truck full amps and testosterone which is crossing this desert. And I am more than confident that they will cross it in spite of everything.
Speaking about the music itself. Musicians use the kind of approach I very much like myself - they take the traditional components of the genre and try to expand it - in their case compositionally and with help of two guitars (there are much more opportunities to express the different shades of music in such a way). The opening track "Road to Burn" starts with one of the most addictive riffs of 2011. This tune if full of bad-ass slow rock. The tempo doesn't seem to change throughout the song making you shake your head for almost 9 minutes. The next two tracks ("7 Flies", "El Rollito", "Set You Free") aren't slow at all. Time to remind that classic stoner-rock (think of Dozer, Atomic Bithcwax or Kyuss with a flavor of Alabama Thunderpussy). Above all I like the moment in El Rollito when solo-guitar's melody unites with singer's voice - awesome!
The following track "Vidage" sounds like an instant classic. Open's with sweet Kyuss-like melody and ends with a guitar duel-jam. As of the next opus - "Navy In Alice", the part which starts on 2:46 is the deal! Delay flavored guitar soloing is going to take you far away until the last note fades out. The rest of the album mostly refers to the part of the album which I called more jam oriented ("Track Me", "Abell", "Super Van Vacation"), except for the mid-tempo rocker "Johnys".
Resume: 5/5. Bravo! This is a record I'm proud owning, and this is an album which I will recommend among the top-5 stoner-rock albums of 2011. What I strongly advise you is to buy band's CDs, go to their shows, and support them in any way possible. They're working really hard to provide you with the best music they can offer, and they deserve to be heard. By the way, judging form YouTube videos their shows really slay so don't miss them playing!