Javelina
Javelina
Translation Loss
Squeal for me, Philadelphia!
The javelina is an ugly, bristly, tusk-sportin’ wild boar that lives in the Southwest desert. These tough-as-shit little oinkers are so badass they eat muthafuckin’ prickly pear cactus like it was nothin’! They got “Do Not Fuck With Me” etched into their impenetrable hides. And this Philly foursome gives off the same vibe on their Translation Loss debut, kicking up a dirty rumble just as ugly and intimidating.
Opener “1,000 Pound Man” crushes just like the title promises, a crusty, sludgy lurcher with alternating shrieking/sandpaper vocals and the distinct stench of Buzzov-en or Eyehategod. If the band did nothing more than repeat that formula eight more times, you woulda heard no complaints here. But Javelina are far from a one-trick piggy. Things go from ugly to uglier in a hurry and you find yourself wondering how the fuck Iron Maiden, Motörhead, early C.O.C. and Celtic Frost (along with the aforementioned bands) could ever be assembled into something so seamless and crushing.
There are (suddenly) a ton of bands that do the Southern stoner/doom/sludge thing capably well, but few can make their songs so compelling and prone to unexpected twists that, instead of distracting from the intensity, they make you shake your head in amazement. The nearly seven-minute-long “Architect”—with its battery of throbbing riffs and Thin Lizzy-on-Vicodin guitar harmonies—is but one example of what sets Javelina above the morass of their equally ugly, but more one-dimensional brethren. Pick any song on here—“Asbestos,” “Gored to Death,” Clergy of Snakes”—and prepare to get torn up and bloodied. Just like you were chewin’ on cactus. —Adem Tepedelen
