Detroit has long been known as Rock City. And with good reason. With artists like MC5, Bob Seger, and others, Detroit has certainly birthed a fair amount of rock and roll into the world. Carrying on that tradition is Bison Machine with the new album Seas of Titan. This album is such an ode to 70s rock that you might want to grow out your hair and your sideburns.
You don’t have to hear much of the album to surmise that the members of the band spent a lot of time listening to MC5 and another Michigan stalwart The Stooges. It becomes clear pretty quickly that this is a band that believes in volume and tempo.
“Knights of the Stars” is an all-out assault on the instruments, with the beat by Breck Crandell driving the song while Anthony Franchina’s bass line is stout enough to rumble your gut. Casey O’Ryan plays a guitar part that borders on psychedelic, just much faster. Meanwhile, Tom Stec’s vocals are reminiscent of early Black Sabbath. The band picks up the tempo even more for the instrumental break, where the psychedelic guitar sounds really come through. By the end of the song, don’t be surprised if you’re banging your head or pumping your fist or both.
The thing is, you can pick any song on this album, from “The Tower” to “Electric Eliminator”, and get that combination of fast, fuzzy guitars and rumbling rhythms that are sure to get you moving and sweaty. The band has a similar vibe to Sasquatch in that regard.
The title track is interesting, with the intro featuring some spacey sounds like you might hear in a Funkadelic song. The trippy sound remains throughout the song, especially with the guitar fills. This song really takes you on a ride from the spacey intro to the furious pace of the rest of the song to what sounds (fittingly) like waves at the end.
This album is perfect if you’re going on a road trip, particularly if you’re driving a beat up 70s muscle car. The tempo and volume also make this a great album for working out. No matter the situation you listen to it, you’ll want to crank the volume.
One Response
Not bad, but a couple of these tunes sound alike, They need a little more diversity, But you can tell that they are talented. I would expect that their next effort would be a little more complex and different. Being from Detroit, and maybe a little biased, and have never heard of them before, I would like to check them out live.