8.3/10
As a grown-ass adult with the taste of a fourteen-year-old, I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with the entirety of the stoner tree of genres (maybe I meant that pun, or maybe I’m just a fucking genius). Maybe it’s a respect and disinterest thing or maybe I’m about to start receiving letter bombs if any overzealous metalhead ever finds out my address. Ultimately it takes something exceptional to catch and keep my shitty attention span when it comes to the atmospheric sensory overload that we know and love as stoner (insert-sub genre-here). Lube in hand and foreshadowing lain, I’m obviously not lamenting my lovers quarrel with a fucking genre just for shit and giggle. Vancouverite heavy metal quintet Dead Quiet released a new schlapper by the name of Truth and Ruin, and I’m not entirely sure how long I’m supposed to have this erection before I call a doctor. Yes, dick jokes and infantility.
Regardless of the cornucopia of acts that came together to create this fucking musical Voltron, Dead Quiet seemingly exists on a plane of smoothness never before uttered. Though the standard aspects of what makes stoner/doom what it is, stand tall in all their glory, of which I’m not going to pretend to be an expert on, what makes this act particularly attractive for me (as the loudest voice in your head while you read this), is the obscene levels of groove even flavor town mayor, Guy Fieri, would deem excessive. What makes this band stand out more than its metaphorical big tits and perfect ass is the fact that there are so many aspects that would typically turn me off from bands of this style that are done so perfectly that I can’t help but love them with the haunting knowledge that no one will ever do it as well as this.
I’m talking about key sections, repetitive riff progressions, and atmospheric-focused tunes. These are all things that would typically stick out too much for my childish taste, but bet your ass I’m all the fuck about it with songs like “Atoned Deaf” and “Of Sound and Fury.” Maybe it’s the impeccable sound production. Maybe it’s the ever so specific tone work and flawless blending of sound and structure. Maybe I’ve finally hit puberty or maybe it’s Kevin Keegan’s ever so familiar voice from the era of Barn Burner that haunts my ears like Ozzy Osbourne if he was an X rated Muppet in some fucked up dungeons and dragons campaign. It’s almost uncanny how much I’ve enjoyed this record, to the point where describing it has truly been difficult. That said, the only place this record honestly loses points with me is track placement. As much as this record fucks from front to back, I found myself more excited for the record to restart by the time I trudged down to “Cold Grey Death,” as the previously mentioned “Atoned Deaf” gives me a hard-on the size of a bratwurst (all credits owed to Master Keegan himself for that Ghastly description). All of this to say, Truth and Ruin is a piece of art to behold and breaks down the boundaries of what it is to enjoy or dislike specific styles of music because you guessed it, it’s just that fucking finger banging good. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m actually a little light-headed and kinda worried about this erection thing.
Written by Jason Greenberg
*Edited by Dominic Abate
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