Stoner rock metal, bleeding your heart out
The "4 Barrel Retribution" EP released by Stoner/Desert Rockers or rather Metallers, Slowtorch, is the first recording with new vocalist, Matteo Meloni. Meloni joined the band with Bruno Bassi on guitars, Karl "Skan" Sandler on bass and Andrea Masetti on drums
Slowtorch expand on their strong influences from the likes of Kyuss, QOTSA and Clutch with some Black Label Society and Black Sabbath thrown in for good measure. The eerie intro quickly makes way for Meloni's catchy vocals which are, at times, as rough and raspy as if he's just walked through a sandstorm in the Sahara, whilst Bassi pumps out the solid, fret burning groove on the axe. This is not for the fainthearted; Slowtorch drills deep through the ribs with their 4-barrel and will bleed your heart out.
One of my personal favourites is '27', especially with the solid groove and bass breakdown; and interpreted as an ode to all the young and promising rockers, such as Morrison, Joplin and Hendrix, we lost at the tender age of 27. Another highlight on this EP is the Sabbath influenced 'Lords of Tomorrow' which also wraps the EP up with a good old acoustic hidden track afterwards, reminiscent of one of Jim Morrison's drug driven hallucination trips in the desert.
"4-Barrel Retribution" was released on 18th February 2011 on Italian independent label, Riff Records and distributed through www.hongly.it and is well worth getting! As a special treat, pop in to their site at www.slowtorch.com, and you may recognise one of their fans being locked up in Africa.