Like fellow Oakland outfit Noothgrush, Brainoil is/was a Bay Area sludge band that only issued one album, disappeared, then more recently reunited with new material (which I reviewed here three years ago). Well, this is that album, soon-to-be reissued by Tankcrimes Records. It’s no Erode the Person, but tis certainly none too shabby.
The band packs seven tracks into less than 22 minutes, with none longer than four. “Dark Eyes of My Past,” one of the longest, is up first; a punishing piece of slo-mo sludge in the vein of Noothgrush or Weedeater. “Naïve in a Bliss” is a bit more upbeat, with an EHG-style NOLA shuffle, with “Wielding Strength” also unleashing some Bower-style riffage before picking up the pace into a thrashy, crusty punk attack, only to drop the tempo once again. “Methamphetamine,” anyone?
Hey, if you like that sludgy stuff, I can think of much worse ways to spend 22 minutes…
