By Jesse Davidson
“That Reverend Red ain’t right!”
They sure ain’t, Reverend Red aka Marshall Dymowski and his band have been causing a musical ruckus for years now and are back with their second full-length album Godde Hill Road. When you listen to a band like this for the first time, you may not know what to make of it. Surf guitar sounds with metal drums underneath them? Punk rock guitar along side a banjo? What is this madness?! Reverend Red that’s what. It’s this weird gumbo of Americana, surf music, punk rock, country, folk, goth, rockabilly and a few more genres to boot that form together to make their sound and this new album being no exception.
Songwriting:
For those who are fans of Reverend Red, this album is a musical evolution of the Rev sound. For those who’ve never heard the band before, this is an interesting start to becoming a fan of the band. Overall, Godde Hill Road broadens the style of songs performed from This Damned Town, their last album. Instead of a primary focus on a psychobilly sound mixed with a Tom Waits/Gothic element, Godde Hill Road includes not only songs that fit right into the canon of songs already in the Reverend Red repertoire (“Burn Um” and “Its My Fault” the first two tracks on the album) but there is a real diversity here between country, ballads, punk, surf guitar, spaced out jams, and an almost metal vibe on certain tunes. A great example of this “Rivers Red” and “What Now Sinner” which feature breakdowns and guitar solos that would make you think you’re listening to a progressive metal band for brief moment and not a contemporary of Hank 3 and Bob Wayne. Although listening to “Working On Sunday”, you can hear how much of an influence Bob Wayne and outlaw country has on Marshall’s song writing. It almost sounded like a song written for Bob to cover at some point.
Another sonically expanded area for the band is in the ballad type songs on this album. “Everyday Conversations”, “I Did it For Denver” and “Godde Hill” put a nice change of pace in the listening order of the album. In the midst of these high-energy songs, in come these folky ballads about love/heartbreak, leaving home, and whores (in which no Reverend Red album would be complete without). “Blood of the Lamb”, an old gospel song originally penned Elisha Hoffman in 1878, is one of the more unique songs on the album. This is gospel meets distorted guitar, punk backing vocals, and Tom Waits. At times this song is slow and creepy and switches gears into a punk sound. Lyrically, Rev has take a few liberties from the original song to create something resembling “Chocolate Jesus” by Tom Waits. The pinnacle of the new sound comes from the last track “Knock Three Times”. This track sums up the best of the creativity and performance of all the new musical elements Godde Hill and hints a possible new direction for the band to take. It not only features added instruments like steel guitar but adds a duet with a female lead vocal and has interesting dynamics from the entire band. The end of this song is entirely unfair because it’s a musical build with Marshall screaming at the top of his lungs and band playing as hard as they can then the song just stops. I didn’t know it was possible to have blue ears but now I do and it’s for the band’s next album.
Performance:
The way the band plays is just as eclectic as their songwriting. Marshall is back with his infamous fuzz tone and clean country tones and you can hear them demonstrated on solos throughout the record. His vocal styles often mimick his guitar playing going from a screaming vocal to a folk tones just as fast as he switches effects on his pedalboard. Banjo has also taken just as a prominent spot as guitar in his playing now. Along with many style changes, this album also introduces “Sloe Hand” Servio Maladanado on the upright bass. Although his has moments of flashiness, Servio is the man holding down the pocket while guitars and drums are doing a lot of movement through the songs. This album also sees the return of “Whitey” Matt Grahmn on drums. Along with his psychobilly style playing before, he has incorporated a lot of metal influences in his playing on Godde Hill. This really shines and comes through on the songs with open jam and solo sections. I don’t know if “Blood of the Lamb” has ever been played with blast beats in it but now it has. Notable guests on the album like Andy Gibson on steel guitar (who also recorded and mixed the album), Amanda Contreras on guest vocals, and Jimmy Clark on fiddle and a nice level of depth to the album and provide tasty bits that would otherwise not be there on the album.
Production:
Overall, the sound of the album is enjoyable and step up in production value for the band. One odd thing I noticed throughout the album is that at some points the record sounded somewhat thin. I could hear all the instrumentation but in order to really hear the detail and definition of the low end (bass, kick drum, etc.), I had to turn up the record louder than I normally would. This is something I usually do on old school albums because that’s just how they sound. Since this feels like an intentional part of the production and not an accident, it brings up questions. Was this album mixed in the style of an older rock, country or punk album? Or did the band want to capture the sound of the band without being beefed up by Protools trickery? Another noticeable thing about this album is that it’s not over compressed. So when you do listen to it loud, the quality of sound isn’t really compromised. Which is a nice change of pace from some new music being released today.
Art/Design:
Something not as considered as it should is album art and design. Reverend Red has considered it for this album and it’s fantastic. Done in an old grindhouse/horror movie style art, the album cover folds out like a poster. This is a unique featue of the album coupled with the cover gives it that extra something to make it cool. Also, added inside is a description of the Rev’s plan to go and raise hell complete with a set of liner notes. This coupled with using a picture of the Antelope Valley as a background for the CD itself is a nice tribute to the real “This Damned Town”.
Overall:
This album is for anyone who is a fan of rockabilly, punk, country, rock n’ roll, goth, or music period. Not only has Reverend Red created a good album but is paying omage to local places and people who have helped him in Antelope Valley who have helped out. This album is evolutionary step for the bands sound and I’m looking forward to see where it goes from here.
If you want to check out the album, you can listen via Soundcloud