Psychedelic Garage Rock
Ty Segall, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Wand
Visceral. Raw. Chunky.
Those are the three words that describe the most recent offering from Baton Rouge, Louisiana’s Loudness War. Titled Warm Fizz, the quartet uses fuzzed out guitar tones and driving, spastic drums to take you on a sonic adventure of a lifetime.
A six-track EP, this is Loudness War’s second release of 2017. It’s a slab of monolithic, fuzzed out space rock. While it seems like this EP is a continuation of their third full-length The Miser, Loudness War ups the ante by letting the freak outs happen more sporadically.
The record commences with “Sickness.” There is something to be said about a record that starts with a slacker rock riff. There’s a permeating smolder to the track, before diving into the thundering bass licks of “Mirror Man.” Vocalist Matthew Urquhart has that Auerbach/Segall snarl, while guitarist Stevie Spring, noodles out on the bridge. In reality though, it’s Quinn Tull’s bass work and Ryan Welsh’s over-splashed cymbals that drive this song.
“Meat Mall” sounds exactly like expected. There is a madcap guitar spazz attack at the end that provides the exclamation point the song needs. Urquhart has a Ty Segall-esque quality about him here. As the song builds, the wall of sound is less defined, and culminates with more of Spring’s intense noodling.
It’s the same story for the rest of the EP too. Loudness War have shown some fantastic dynamism while writing this record. Each sonic element doesn’t overpower the other. There is space for each musician to do their thing on the record too. Each member has left their indelible mark on each of these six songs.
To sum it all up: If you like loud, fuzzed out guitars, thumping bass lines, and intense, cymbal heavy rock tunes, this EP and this band are for you.
