Valume NobIn a time of false metal and emo kids running amuck, it’s a breath of fresh air to hear a band like Valume Nob. They’re just four guys who like to get together, drink some booze and pound out some pure NOLA inspired hardcore/metal in the vein of bands like DRI. Even with kids, wives and bills to worry about these guys still manage to get it done. Not even Katrina could stop these guys from writing and playing some of the best heavy music to grace my ears in some time. My first introduction to the mayhem that is the Nob was their EP The Most High and that left me salivating for more. Well they have brought fourth 14 new tracks of earth moving goodness with one of their live gems from their EP, the one I was gushing over that they should re-record into an actual track and low and behold here it is. This thing kicks off just as I would have expected, a little sinister droning and then BAM! A wall of sonic destruction smacks you across the mouth and doesn’t stop until the little southern ditty that Sid Montz (drummer) wrote caps this one off. And after listening to that outro I wanted to eat some gumbo. As the songs pound away, I’ve noticed that they haven’t strayed away from their sound, rather they just stick to adding their NOLA flavor to their metal/sludge soaked hardcore riffs. Probably one of the best things about this band is it oozes metal tendencies but deep down it’s really hardcore. If you listen to the songs, you’ll notice the songs all have a fast driving punk feel to them, but the guitars are so fucking heavy and down tuned that you wouldn’t notice it at first, or even worse not even bother to listen. The lyrics are in typical VN fashion, straight from the soul of Marshall and Sid Montz. Anthems about drinking whiskey, addiction, being a scatter brain (the track Wire Brain), a song dedicated to Lemmy and Motorhead, war, revenge, everything that makes them who they are. I was a little surprised they didn’t have a song directly involving Katrina. Which to me speaks volumes about the band and the integrity they have. They didn’t try to capitalize off of a tragedy. They are extremely proud of where they come from, and sure as hell let you know where they’re from but this band will never use it as a marketing tool. They’ll let their exceptional song writing and heartfelt words of wisdom do the selling. The production on this sounds exceptionally good, they hauled their asses out to Hollywood to get this recorded by the great Warren Riker, who has worked with greats like Crowbar and Down. He also did some back up vocals on track 7 and 15 as well as the intro. The layout looks good, a lot better then The Most High EP. It features various images throughout the enormous booklet, images of: bones, war, religion and various other oddities. In the smack middle, there’s pictures of the band members with fire and amps surrounding them. You can tell they put a lot of time and effort into it, as well as money. Because once again labels passed over this band, I still can’t believe they couldn’t find a decent sized label to distribute this for them when there is legions of shitty bands getting signed to labels that they have no merit to be on.
Rating: 4.5/5
Songs Worthy of Replay: Brutal Attack, Whiskey Lifestyle
Thesis: If you like metal, sludge and hardcore you better be all over this one. I’ve been listening to this one a tons since I got it for review and so should you