ANNIMAL MACHINE - "ANNIMAL MACHINE EP" ...

Ah, Mexico. Sometimes you sit down and wonder why Mexico, where deserts are the natural flora, doesn’t produce enough stoner bands, since the pivotal aim of stoner which is to create an experience of driving through hot arid deserts with the glaring sun baking down on the cacti infested surroundings would go extremely well with the genre. Sure, there have been some stoner bands from that part of the world, Weedsnake and Dirty Woman come to mind, but that’s it. Hailing from Mexico, and hopefully breaking this trend and in the process opening the door for more stoner bands from Mexico, is a three piece band that goes by the name Annimal Machine (no, that is not a spelling mistake).

The band is a power trio consisting of Fat Bastard on the kit, Gabriel Cortes handling the dual duties of lead guitarist and singer and Paulo Sandoval on bass guitar and released their debut self titled EP in the September of 2012. Lasting almost 3 minutes which have been spread of over 3 tracks this is some of the heaviest, with a capital H, of stoner music out there.

Annimal Machine play a highly aggressive form of music, almost flirting with the boundaries of modern thrash in all its violent glory at times, yet due to the down tuned fuzzy riffs and groove laden music encapsulated in this little dynamite of a release its roots always stay firmly rooted in the realm of inordinately corpulent stoner music. An aural assault of infectiously catchy hooks and riffs are only thrusted forward by the Gabriel Cortes’ vocal delivery which with its passion injected almost gruff delivery fits the bands’ emotion fueled output like a tailor made suit. As the band permeates an aura of being overly enthusiastic and Fat Bastard’s drumming acts as a testament to this, the band never in its mellowest or violent moments seem to lose control. Each riff, each guitar solo, each drum fill and each bass interlude has been thought of thoroughly and has been placed with immaculate precision to the point that it feels like the band has carefully foreseen the visceral impact of each on the listener.

Though mostly up-tempo and blood pumping in feel there are long phases of drawn out hazy jams that envelop the listener and take them on a marijuana induced meandering in a desert baked by the hot sun and yet you feel a proclivity towards more structured and thought of songs. The bassist Paulo Sandoval and his work here demands special attention with his work instead of merely gyrating towards plodding along with the band also often extends to sections where he takes center stage, or an extremely heavy bass riff that often acts as a precursor of an upcoming assault of power and even at times carves its own path along this extremely arid highway of enthusiasm, but mostly it is used as the glue which holds the band together.

Needless to say, progressive song structures are to be expected in this varied release. Never knowing what to expect the band successfully maintains that aura of an element of surprise that keeps the listener hooked throughout its entirety. Even because of the vast change in moods and atmospheres as well an aggressive intensity the band has managed to create a highly fluid release that flows seamlessly from swirling riffs to a highly heavy duty unrelenting surge of power to an extremely fist pumping, deliberating section that will floor any fan of stoner music. Annimal Machine knew exactly what they wanted when they set out releasing this, and with the brilliant use of the instruments and a highly talented display of musicianship has come up with a teaser of what can be a band whose view of the genre extends farther than what most bands in the genre see. If you’re looking for some highly fun, aggressive and adrenaline inducing rush of blood kind of music, you need to look as far as Mexico....8.5/10

Written by : Vaibhav Jain

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