By: Jay Hampshire
Album Type: Full Length
Date Released: 28/08/2017
Label: Red Sun Sounds
Made Of Teeth have produced a confident, punchy, and savage debut that provides the listener with labyrinthine levels of surprises around each corner.
“Made Of
Teeth” DD track listing
1). Citrus Fetus Potus
2). Drunk On Bleach
3). Weeper
4). Hook, Tooth and Claw
5). Bleak Phlegm
6). The Karman Line
The Review
What do you
do with your down time? Binge watch the latest Netflix must see? Vainly attempt
to put together some flat pack furniture without resorting to violence? Spin up
some vinyl and indulge in some of the Devil’s lettuce? For Welsh
heavy-underground luminaries Chris West and
Steve Jones, their down time from
‘main’ doom/country/psych/stoner/prog/kitchen-sink project Spider Kitten has seen them give
birth to something beautiful in its malignancy.
Made Of Teeth (and the self-titled
debut record) were born of an insatiable lust to play live and as up in folks’
faces as possible. The third leg of the sonic stool is provided by Lacertilia’s
Tom Cole on bass/vocals, seeing West on guitar/vocal duties and Jones handling duties behind the kit
(as well as vocals, because three pissed off growls are better than one). The
kind of sneering, vitriolic punk energy the best live bands tote around is
captured and somehow restrained across the six tracks on offer.
‘Citrus Fetus Potus’ comes in hard with
shimmering cymbals and a clock ticking like a bomb timer, before exploding with
stabbing riffs that lumber like old-school Mastodon licks. Barked vocals buffer around
the twisting, writhing guitars, almost used as punctuation. Stuttering palm
muting hits like a closed fist, before the track ends on some beefy call and
response shouts. ‘Drunk On Bleach’
trills with bright guitar before locking into a ripper of a drive, a real fist
pumping, chugging groove. It’s a tad rough around the edges, but satisfyingly
so, dropping briefly into a deceptively calm section with some monstrous
vocals. It’s simple, but it’s fucking slablike.
‘Weeper’ shuffles in with some creepy
backmasking, before crawling away on the back of a dour riff. Spoken word
vocals come across like the fractured ramblings of a serial killers’ notebook,
before rising up into jarring motes of atonality and massive chords. ‘Hook, Tooth and Claw’ is the biggest
departure on the record. Lapping ways and a slow rush of breath usher in
hollow, jangling, melancholy acoustic guitar (a possible hint at the bands’
experiences with all things Arachnid and Feline). Bolshy, bouncing riffs kick
this aside with a hobnailed boot, hardcore gang vocals and razor edged bass
rolling tidally over an underlay of muscular toms.
‘Bleak Phlegm’ is as delicate as it
sounds, plodding, Melvins-ian bass and skittering guitar under
ranting vocals swaggering away. Things amp up into a ballsier main riff, held
chords screeching protest before collapsing into a gentle, lilting loop that
builds to a dramatic, slowly revolving crescendo – it’s the longest song here,
and it exploits its length to great effect. ‘The Karman Line’ hops with punk energy and rolling drums, scrappy
with layers of guitar and angular riffing, running the gamut between lo-fi
grooves and grungy drives.
Heavier and
more confrontational than any work we’ve heard from the trio’s other projects (even
Wests’ stint with the much missed Taint) there’s a simple ferocity to Made Of Teeth’s
sound that sees them eschew overly flash production and gimmicky
performance. They don’t skimp on songcraft, however, as it takes both nous and
talent to write solid slabs of riffola that sound joyously simplistic while
being anything but. They combine elements from all over the influence spectrum
with an unerring smoothness, providing a listen that’s labyrinthine in the
surprises around each corner. Confident, punchy, and savage – one thing that
drips from every pore of this release is the knowledge that the band had as
much cathartic fun making it as you will listening to it.
‘Made Of
Teeth’ is available here
