Dusty Desert Groove
I'm feeling a little delicate today, having downed three or four shandies too many last night, and as such I approached this CD with trepidation. Harms Way aren't giving anything away with their artwork (consisting of their logo set against a black background), and I didn't know what I was about to be exposed to. Were my poor, suffering, hungover ears about to be assaulted by a slab of raging metalcore? Or some down-tuned rap-metal malarkey, perhaps? And, more importantly, where the hell is the apostrophe from their name?
"Oxytocin" is the debut album from this Swedish band, who formed in 2003 and released a three-track 10" EP in 2004. It's also, as it turns out, ideal music for putting on when you're suffering from alcohol-induced tenderness but aren't so wasted that your need to reach for your dark ambient CDs. Less charitable souls might stick this with the 'stoner' or 'desert rock' tag, and it's not an entirely unwarranted label; Harms Way deal in cool hard rock with slow burning guitars and a swaggering groove. The songs are quite sprawling, with plenty of room to breathe. Vocals tend to take a backseat to the long instrumental passages which weave and sway hypnotically. The musicianship is exemplary throughout, with lolloping bass lines and some very tasty guitar solos, but it is always put to the service of the song, rather than vice versa. The vocals, when they do appear, are smooth and clean and multi-tracked to infinity.
Although the guitars are quite caustic and there are many places where the music threatens to turn into something more metallic, Harms Way manage to generate a mellow vibe which isn't lost even on the heavier parts of the album - which is a positive boon given my fragile state at the moment. No lyric sheet was included with my promo copy of this album so I can't tell you what Harms Way are singing about, but it doesn't matter; "Oxytocin" is all about the dusty desert groove. This is an album with enough going on to entice you back for repeated spins, and while Harms Way aren't destined to be your new favourite band, you'll find much to enjoy here. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to spend the rest of the afternoon lying in bed, feeling sorry for myself. I'm going to take this Harms Way CD with me, though.