I’ve had the opportunity to listen to Oakland, CA trio Sludgebucket’s
latest release Cockroach Season a few times now as I’ve been working
and writing away the last several afternoons and finally I find myself
with a little bit of time to tell you about it.Don’t be fooled by the band’s name as the trio led by Kelly Ross Waldrip has much more to offer than sludge mixing numerous styles into their sound from folk to doom to psychedelic making their brand of sludge a little different than what you normally think of when seeing that word.
When I see the word sludge I generally think of two things NOLA and a fuzzed out, down tuned sound, however, Sludgebucket doesn’t not hail from the south and puts their sludgy mix together a little differently. Cockroach Season begins with the instrumental title track which has some elements of folk to it making it a nice warm up for what is to come. Sludgebucket’s latest release Cockroach Season a few times now as I’ve been working and writing away the last several afternoons and finally I find myself with a little bit of time to tell you about it.
Don’t be fooled by the band’s name as the trio led by Kelly Ross Waldrip has much more to offer than sludge mixing numerous styles into their sound from folk to doom to psychedelic making their brand of sludge a little different than what you normally think of when seeing that word.
When I see the word sludge I generally think of two things NOLA and a fuzzed out, down tuned sound, however, Sludgebucket doesn’t not hail from the south and puts their sludgy mix together a little differently. Cockroach Season begins with the instrumental title track which has some elements of folk to it making it a nice warm up for what is to come.
The second track, Vulture’s Feast, is a plodding number showing off some of the doom roots of the band. Waldrip’s voice starts off like a demon crying out from down below before breaking into a little cleaner style later in the track. It has the fuzziness that sludge is known for but is definitely different than anything you’ll hear coming out of classic NOLA sludge bands or sludge bands in general.
Red Underneath keeps your ears interested with alternating blistering downtuned sludge with a simple plucked guitar chord.
The contrast makes it an interesting listen also showing some of the band’s psychedelic influence as the keyboards kick in about half way through the track. An interesting listen for sure. The track fades out bringing in a spoken word type opening to East Wind Locust. The keyboard work is provided by Jim Juhn who also acted as engineer for the album. Dueling guitar and bass lines from guitarist Brad Reisinger and vocalist/bassist Waldrip keep the song interesting and fun to listen to.
Penniless Blues contrary to its name isn’t really a blues song to my ear but is a nice interlude instrumental seguing into the final third of the album. 110 Degrees is a stoner type psychedelic song that makes you want to drop a tab or roll one up to bask in the sun with though hopefully it isn’t a 110 degrees when you do. I couldn’t help bobbing my head and smiling to this track, it just makes you feel good all over. I would say Unwind is the sludgiest tune on the album but it mixes in a psychedelia feel as well as a little stoner rock so that it isn’t a typical sludge song either. The track doesn’t set a blistering pace but methodically gets you shaking your head with a heavy feel though it isn’t the heaviest track in the world. That brings us to the album closer, Introspection, which is a quick bass solo by the backbone of Sludgebucket, Kelly Ross Waldrip. To be honest I’ve always been partial to good bass solos so all I can really say about the closer, Introspection, is Mr. Waldrip it was too short! Its excellent then it ends just leaving me hanging man!
In the end the best thing I can say about Cockroach Season is that it could have used a couple more tracks but that really isn’t a bad thing. On a scale of 1-5 I’d put Cockroach Season in at a comfortable 3 to 3.5 and that isn’t bad at all. The band seems to have a solid lineup now with guitarist Brad Reisinger, drummer Marc Kaufman and vocalist/bassist/founder Kelly Waldrip who are currently working on new material as Cockroach Season is a bit of a mash up with the current band lineup and previous lineups. I have no doubt that what Sludgebucket puts out next, if nothing else, will be interesting to listen to. This isn’t typical sludge and that is a good thing.
The Links:
Sludgebucket Official Website : HERE
Bandcamp : HERE
Facebook : HERE
Twitter: HERE
Words: Feind Gottes (editor, Thy Demons Be Scribblin)