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Drug Honkey: Ghost in the fire
26/10/13 || gk
Drug Honkey formed in 1999 and has been creating some of the most challenging doom metal of the last few years. My first brush with them was when I got a copy of their last album “Death dub” (2008) in the mail to review. It took me about a year to get my head around what was happening and the band’s disturbing sonic assault mixed with their out there weirdness was a tough but rewarding listen. Then in 2012 came “Ghost in the fire” and this is a slightly new sound for the band.
Drug Honkey’s sound is a lot more streamlined here than it used to be. The psychedelia of “Hail satan” and the industrial stomp of “Death dub” have been seamlessly integrated into an unrelenting wall of sound. The music (if you can call it that) is a mix of slow, crushing doom metal riffs, a steady background drone that occasionally comes to the front and harsh industrial of the early 90s variety. Order of the solar temple kicks things off in relatively friendly fashion with a halfway accessible sound for drone fans but the album builds steadily on this opening and the band mounts up the pressure and claustrophobia. “This time I won’t hesitate” is all lurching, crawling riffs and hoarse, effect laden vocals. The song is a pretty good indication of what the band does on most of Ghost in the fire and it kicks off the middle section of the album. “In black robe”, “Dead days (Heroin III)” and “Five years up” build a level of claustrophobia and uneasiness in me that I haven’t felt since I first heard Godflesh’s “Streetcleaner”. The band throws in a cover of Scorn’s “Twitcher” which is a lot more electronic in nature than anything else on the album and end with the abrasive “Saturate/Annihilate” which has a conventional sludge groove buried beneath some manic shouting and what sounds like a distorted bass riff. It’s a perfect ending to the album and the silence that follows once these 50 odd minutes are done is both welcome and strangely disappointing.
Drug Honkey has evolved with “Ghost in the fire”. The band previously had an “anything goes” attitude that often made their music a frustrating mix of genius and bizarre. Here, they’ve taken the good bits from their previous albums, focused on the atmosphere as a whole and created something that could well go on to become a cult classic.
“Ghost in the fire” isn’t for everyone. Even fans of the more extreme forms of doom metal might find this to be too much but if you like bands like France’s P.H.O.B.O.S. or current scene darling Author & Punisher then you just might like Drug Honkey. If you’re a fan and you’ve heard these guys before then there’s absolutely no excuse for not picking this one up yet.
- Information
- Released: 2012
- Label: Transcending Obscurity
- Website: Drug Honkey Bandcamp
- Band
- Honkey Head: vocals, synths, samples
- Hobbs: guitars
- Brown Honkey: bass
- B.H. Honkey: drums
- Tracklist
- 01. Order of the Solar Temple
- 02. Ghost in the Fire
- 03. Weight of the World
- 04. This Time I Won’t Hesitate
- 05. In Black Robe
- 06. Dead Days (Heroin III)
- 07. Five Years Up
- 08. Out of My Mind
- 09. Twitcher
- 10. Saturate/ Annihilate
