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Class 6(66)
Monster Magnet: Spine of god
13/01/11 || Khlysty
Introduction
For reasons that completely and totally elude me, metalheadz seem to have a VERY “ho-hum” attitude against Monster Magnet. While the band enjoyed a bit of mainstream success with the infectiously catchy and heavier than almost everything coming out from mainstream labels that year (1998) “Powertrip”, Monster Magnet have never budged from their super-heavy, quasi-psychedelic, supa-fuzzy and exceptionally catchy sound, which combines great hooks with crazier-than-anything-else psyched-out dementia and universe-sized ambition. Although there are a coupla duds in the band’s discography (say, “4-Way Diablo”), Monster Magnet has always displayed high quality control and their music always begged to be played LOUD and listened by GAJILLIONS of adoring fans.
Of course, the band had its share of troubles. When they started off, they couldn’t find a fucking label to put out their records. Their first two recordings (the primeval-sounding “Monster Magnet” E.P. and the trippy-beyond-belief “25… Tab” E.P./L.P./whathaveyou) came out on German label Glitterhouse. After A&M got eaten by another major label, the band faced serious production and promotion problems and was forced to move to indie SPV (and we’re talking here ‘bout a band which had already had a gold album and a strong fanbase…). In 2006 Dave Wyndorf, the band’s sensei and leader almost pushed the daisies, after ODing on prescription drugs. Then, on 2009 SPV applied for insolvency and the band had to search for a new label, this time landing a contract with even indier Napalm Records. Not what I’d call an easy ride…
Anyway, while da Magnet still goes on strong, I think that it’s high time (pun intended) that GD paid its respects to their first “proper” L.P., the mighty “Spine of God”, which came out on 1992 and still represents the band’s most undiluted and controversial facet. Coming out during grunge’s high point, “Spine of God” was almost universally hailed as the best retro-rock-revival record to grace the ears of guitar-and-drugs-fueled music fans and became a staple for defining –along with Kyuss’ “Blues For The Red Sun”- the “stoner” sound, even though Monster Magnet seemed to take their influences from even older bands than Kyuss, who seemed obsessed with updating the most downtuned riffery of Black Sabbath. Da Magnet seemed to live in a haze of bong smoke, trippy acid-melting colors and psychedelic noise-mongering. As the record proudly proclaimed, “It’s a satanic drug thing. You wouldn’t understand…”.
Songwriting
9. When I first heard “Spine of God”, totally zonked on devilweed, at a friend’s place, I was totally unable to express what I thought about it in any coherent way. Actually, it took me some time to fully and completely digest the psychedelic swingin’ sounds emanating from the speakers and to be able to explain the genius of Monster Magnet, first and foremost to myself. See, “Spine of God” initially seems like the swirling, uncontrolled product of huge psychedelic drugs consumption, a love for ‘60s and ‘70s primitive guitar effects, fuzzy, reverbed to all-out fuck instrumentation and vocals, metal clichés taken to their (il)logical extreme and unabashed adoration of ‘60s and ‘70s hard rock and acid rock giants like Hawkwind, Grand Funk Railroad (da Magnet covers here “Sin’s A Good Man’s Brother”) and Blue Cheer. It’s really not that easy to discern what the motherfuck’s going on during the songs, what with the scuzz-and-fuzz covering every nook and cranny.
So, you need repeated listens to see the truth. Which is the fact that, for all the craziness and sprawling of strange sounds, Monster Magnet writes extremely approachable and catchy hard rock tunes. Through the swirling, feedback-drenched dementia of the songs, one can find smartly-placed hooks, effective and careful song-writing, even some pop-ish tricks of the trade, that all combine to make “Spine of God” an extremely effective and powerful statement that’s, also, great fun to listen to. Wyndorf already displays his composing genius, combining clashing elements to create a whole that’s much bigger than its component parts and which –yeah, yeah, I repeat myself, so sue me…- is extremely catchy.
Just listen to the chorus of “Spine of God” and tell me if you don’t want to just get on your feet, raise yer fist and start screaming along with Wyndorf “YOU DON’T YANK ON THE SPINE OF GOD!!! YOU GET WHAT YOU GIVE, YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN!!!”. Whewww. Powerful stuff, fer sho! Anyway, generally the pace of the songs is slow and perfect for slo-mo headbanging, while the acid-drenched ambiance makes everything more sinister and dark than it already is.
Production
8. Obviously, Caroline didn’t invest a shitload of dough for the production of “Spine of God”. So, it’s basically pretty raw and a bit, ah, dirty. But, I have to point out that even so, it’s perfect for the chemically-damaged ambiance of the music and easily comparable with older production jobs of other bands, like, say, Hawkwind. So, everything’s peachy.
Guitars
9,5. Boy, oh boy, oh boy. John Mc Bain’s guitar is a ‘60s informed, malformed monster, spewing forth flanged-to-fuck-and-reverbed-to-shit acid-derived riffery on par with the best axemen of an age when drugs were abundant and it was considered as bad form to play without being smashed outta your skull. The tube amps crackle and spit under the huge distortion and the leads seem to come out of black holes created by psychedelic binges of the past. Also, the heaviness quotient is so huge that there are times, e.g. like on “Black Mastermind”, when the whole groans under it. John Mc Bain left afterwards, Ed Mundell entered the fold and things changed a bit –but not so much.
Vocals
9. Attitude, baby, that’s the trick. Attitude. Dave Wyndorf’s scraggly vocals, heavily treated and sometimes buried under the psych-gunk of the production, still come strong and lively and full of conviction and bravado. His performance is not his strongest, but it’s there, it’s catchy, it’s full-fledged crazy and has enough melodic elements so as to be easily digestible by people who really don’t dig this kind of music.
Bass
8. Joe Calandra’s bass, even though pretty much buried in the mix, is a Pillar of Stability inside the maelstrom of the guitars. Under the feedback howls and flanged screams, Joe holds the fort admirably, giving the songs enough presence and backbone, along…
Drums
8,5. …with Jon Kleiman’s metronomic drumming. Even when his drums are treated beyond recognition, their presence is critical into holding upright the structures around them. Jon is one more Center of Logic within the terrible craziness pervading the record.
Lyrics
9,5. Sex, drugs, rock’n’roll, drug gods, sex gods, rock’n’roll gods, universe-collapsing battles, air-fresheners, monsters of the Id, acid-derived dreams and nightmares, have I already mentioned sex and drugs and rock’n’roll…?
Cover art
7. A primitive rendering of Monster Magnet’s mascot, the Bull God. ‘S okay.
Logo
7. The name of the band written in as a psychedelic font as is allowed by the law.
Booklet
10. Just for containing the mantra “It’s a satanic drug thing. You wouldn’t understand…”, it gets a 10.
Overall and ending rant
Some people believe that “Spine of God” is the metal record for people who hate metal records. I tend to disagree. Bona fide metal sounds started to crop up in da Magnet’s music on latter records, while “Spine of God” remains their most unapologetically psychedelic hard rock record. But you shouldn’t let this minor thing stop you from embracing this fabulastic record: it rocks, it shakes, it boogies, it clashes and slashes. It’s one perfect mindfuck and, at the same time, one of the catchiest modern hard rock/stoner/acid rock records ever to be produced by any band. “Spine of God” is a total, stone-cold classic and you should have it, NO FUCKING MATTER WHAT, okay? Good, then…
- Information
- Released: 1992
- Label: Caroline
- Website: www.zodiaclung.com
- Band
- Dave Wyndorf: vocals, guitar, keyboards
- John Mc Bain: guitar
- Joe Calandra: bass
- Jon Kleiman: drums
- Tim Cronin: dope, lights, center of the universe
- Tracklist
- 01. Pill shovel
- 02. Medicine
- 03. Nod scene
- 04. Black mastermind
- 05. Zodiac lung
- 06. Spine of god
- 07. Snake dance
- 08. Sin’s a good man’s brother
- 09. Ozium
