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Drug Honkey: Death dub

16/03/10 || Habakuk

Alright, alright, I should have known. If a band is called Drug Honkey, chances are they’re kind of “out there” in a way. I’ve been on a stoner trip for quite some time now though, so I thought this might be interesting. And it is interesting, but not in the fantastic way but rather in the “interesting – so, what else is there?”- kind of way.

First of all, this isn’t exactly stoner. It’s rather a mixture of said genre in ultra slow, doomy sluuuurrrrrrdge, and a shitload of cranked up distortion and noise. Imagine that topped off with some industrial screeching noises and harsh, growled vocals in all kinds of variations as well as run through all kinds of filters, and you get an idea of the stuff these guys do. I’m getting a certain Ufomammut vibe, but “Death dub” is nastier and weirder in execution, even more dragging and even more clusterfucked, as the instruments tend to stray away from each other quite a bit. This lets the bass shine especially, next to the obviously very thick, bass-heavy, and dirty guitar tone. The bum-bom-bass guitar provides even more low-end, as if that were necessary, and the drums do their thing in the background. Tight and everything, but not too flashy.

The first five songs are all pretty much in that vein. Good for what they are, but I’ve got to admit, it gets a bit too much for me. I guess this album should work great if you’re getting high or something, and I recommend it to all you Bongsters out there, but since I rarely find myself in that situation, and if, then not exactly with people that enjoy this kind of music, I can’t appreciate it to the fullest. The instrumental parts are sluggish and in a sinister way even laid-back after you get over to the initial heaviness, but in my book, the vocals just go over the top a bit from time to time. Might have been better to stick to a certain style instead of mixing all kinds of growling, but I guess that was part of the overall idea.

After track five, there’s a noticeable change, though. For some reason, track six (of eight) is a live version, and that one gets my doomy misanthromotor running with its laid-back vibe and the less processed vocals that in parts could almost pass as clean, but are sung in the way David Hasselhoff talks to his daughter when lying on the bathroom floor at night… plus, it’s got the nice line “Youareaapieeceoffffsshhhhit”. Hoorah!

After that we get a “reconstruct” song, whatever that means, but it’s noticeably more upbeat and has a thick groove to it which I kind of enjoy. Vocals again are a lot cleaner than on the first couple of songs, so this one’s actually quite alright if not a bit long. They were almost on a run it seems, but then the last track is a forgettable 1:07 minutes long piece in the vein of the first few songs again, and I am left puzzled. I really don’t see the point of it.

So yeah. A big, dirty doom clusterfuck of an album. Read that as a compliment if you’re into the weird shit – just be aware that there’s some unexplainable change in the overall sound throughout the album which might sound a bit inconsistent.

Do not read it as a compliment if you’re not into anything related to drugs, sludgy doom metal or combinations thereof. Stay the fuck away instead.
I, for one, am caught in the middle a bit, and aptly I’ll give this a:

Information
Released: 2008
Label: Everflow Records
Website: Drug Honkey MySpace
Band
Honkey Head: vocals, keyboards
Hobbs: guitar
Brown Honkey: bass
Bonghit Honkey: drums

Tracklist
01. My sins
02. Devil lasts forever
03. Death threats
04. Communion
05. I can not
06. China black (Heroin, Pt.2) (live)
07. Burundi (Reconstruct)
08. Who the fuck

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