Do we really need another crunching, crushing, metal outfit skirting around the edges of the sludgier aspects of the whole stoner rock movement? Probably not, but don’t tell that to Austin’s Giant Squid.
Listening to “Neonate,” the first full song on their new disc Metridium Fields, you would be forgiven for just sort of sighing and going, “not another one.” The track is thicker than a congealing scab and covers all the bases, but really doesn’t offer anything to help it stand out from the pack of other longhairs with whiplash.
Then “Versus The Siren” kicks in, a multi-part and expansive duet between husband / wife team Aaron and Aurielle Gregory. Suddenly it becomes apparent that there is a whole lot more here going on than first surmised. The disc opens up to reveal its treasures more readily from that point on, slowly building up the listener’s engagement until the final twenty-one minute payoff of the closing (and title) track.
It’s true, we don’t need another cookie-cutter metal act clogging up the record bins. Luckily Giant Squid bypass that danger rather nicely with their combination of sugar and brimstone and have concocted and intoxicating mixture to pour down your slackened throat.