Review by Rosh on October 3, 2023.

Red Fang is definitely one of those bands that I see as "another one of a lot" rather than the most independent entity, since along with bands like The Sword and High on Fire, they're basically another draw in the hat of modern stoner rock/metal. They somehow have a modern sound for sure, but actually, it's hard to say exactly what distinguishes this movement of early-mid 2000's bands from those of the 90's. If I had to take a stab at it, though, I guess it has something to do with the increased diversity among this movement when you factor in the similarity of other modern acts like Mastodon or whatever to the aforementioned stoner bands. This crop of artists seem to augment their sound with elements that would've initially broken the boundaries of stoner rock/metal, and so it's not surprising that a lot of bands belonging to this circle are also mentioned as the face of modern heavy music.

And Red Fang is, I suppose, a textbook example of this movement because their influences are pretty diverse, packaging everything stoner and doom adjacent into a coherent offering. In a decade or so, they seem to have only further embraced both their more melodic and their more aggressive tendencies, which is nice to see because it contradicts stoner music's long-running reputation for being one-note and repetitive. Only Ghosts is, then, not only well-balanced, but consistently enjoyable across its 10 tracks. Imagine the more outlandish and groovy riff tendencies of Soundgarden meshed with the gritty crunch of High on Fire for a good picture of what Red Fang do on their 2016 offering. Along those lines, this is definitely some of the "grungier" stoner rock I have heard, with many tracks transitioning into bouncy power chord riffs after their initial guitar or bass hook, ones that sound immensely influenced by Black Sabbath without being particularly metal either. Specifically, one should listen for the "oh-oh, oh-oh, ah-ohh" vocals in "Cut It Short" for a good example of this band's less metal tendencies, in spite of how heavy they are.

One enigmatic thing about the music on Only Ghosts is that almost all of the instrumentation is a bit more staccato-heavy than the majority of groovy metal you'll hear, which works acceptably well with the lyrical refrains that involve repeating the same general phrase with slightly different wording every time ("Shadows" and "Not For You" in particular). This is a decent formula, because the music relies on this stop-and-start thump to milk catchiness out of repetition, but it still means you feel like you've heard every song on the album before, even if they all do sound quite nice. I have mixed feelings about this, because while Kyuss and Orange Goblin never struggled with making the listener feel like they've heard the tunes on the album before, those bands also never sounded this unique, or used repetition to a hypnotic effect.

Production-wise, Only Ghosts is Red Fang's strongest offering yet, with everything sounding full and up-front. This means that all the niche tendencies of the compositions still present themselves strongly, even if they do bleed together. This is quite important, too, because the band has quite a layered sound, from the ever-prominent low-end, to the psychedelic echo effect on the vocals, to the more low-keyed lead guitar work. Furthermore, when they get more sludgy on tracks like "The Smell of the Sound", they're basically slowing down the tempo enough to where you can appreciate the richness of their soundscape. Overall, the music on Only Ghosts isn't more involved than it needs to be, but it's got these subtle intricacies buried beneath its overt accessibility and energy.

Red Fang is pretty much the archetype for modern stoner rock, or whatever you want to call this type of rock/metal. With their 2016 effort, they offer something that isn't quite safe considering it's still relatively eclectic sounding stuff, but is definitely going to resonate with a newer generation of heavy rock fans. I'm not sure exactly what the mood or the attitude of this kind of music is, so I don't have a thematic note to close on, but it might be something along the lines of "she still wants to know what I still don't know..."

Rating: 8.4 out of 10

Review by Jeger on March 12, 2025.

Let's get into some solo melo-death. I've covered about a thousand solo black metal projects and the taste has gotten stale. What we have today is a much maligned melodic death metal scene with vanilla bands like The Halo Effect spearheading the movement as opposed to a magnificent ones like Omnium Gatherum or perhaps Buried Realm, out of Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA. BR is masterminded by one Josh Dummer who handles all phases except for guest musician contributions. It's the fucking cover art that got me though. Remember back in the day at the record store when you would buy an album solely based on its rad cover art? Sold! To the sucker in the Dissection shirt who stinks of weed and cigarettes… on April 4, Buried Realm will unveil its fourth LP, The Dormant Darkness.

Into Eternity anyone? Fuck if I didn't get a hard-on for the opener, "Bloodline Artifice". All the same sweet spots massaged: regimented double-bass currents, gravitational riffs, stunning cleans, striking leads and glorious melodic passages. Fresh like pancakes, man… There's a lot going on here. The album's aggression is offset by its sentiment. For every blazing, swirling minute of progressive/technical/melodic/avant-garde bedazzlement, there are equal parts heart & soul to be felt as well. I guess we're doing power metal stuff now during the intro to "A Futile Endeavor". What a nice touch with all the pinch harmonics. And then galloping along to some tasty chugs one minute and drooping your lids to some intoxicating melodies the next.

Such energy, like this guy gives a shit about what he's doing or something. This isn't some throw-the-major-label-a-bone LP, but a statement. You'll get it… An almost industrial vibe to "Where The Armless Phantoms Glide, Pt. II" as the rhythm section becomes something entirely too precise to be organic. Robotic rhythms drive forward chug-fueled leads as maniacal vocal tirades  somehow overpower it all. Man, George Kollias (Nile) would be proud of our boy here. Josh proving to be a formidable percussionist as well as a remarkable axeman.

As far as engineering, tonality and all that mumbo-jumbo, except a gargantuan sound, like Septicflesh or Belphegor big with every phase pulsating at surface level. Grab yourself by the balls and spit, because this is big boy melo-death, and yet so refined all the same. Somebody throw this dude a record deal. He's better than 3/4 of the schlubs you've got on your roster! Melodic death metal for transcendence beyond the status quo and to breathe some fresh life into the genre. It comes down to songwriting. A fundamental approach will always trump all the fancy shit: nice segmentation, anticipatory changes in tempo, reciprocity and choral. All the stuff that just makes for great music. All right here, my friends. When these techniques are combined with this kind of adeptness and imagination, the result is brilliant records like The Dormant Darkness. It's better because it's American! Just kidding, but seriously, you'll dig this one. Horns up!

Rating: 8.5 out of 10

Review by Jeger on March 12, 2025.

Let's get into some solo melo-death. I've covered about a thousand solo black metal projects and the taste has gotten stale. What we have today is a much maligned melodic death metal scene with vanilla bands like The Halo Effect spearheading the movement as opposed to a magnificent ones like Omnium Gatherum or perhaps Buried Realm, out of Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA. BR is masterminded by one Josh Dummer who handles all phases except for guest musician contributions. It's the fucking cover art that got me though. Remember back in the day at the record store when you would buy an album solely based on its rad cover art? Sold! To the sucker in the Dissection shirt who stinks of weed and cigarettes… on April 4, Buried Realm will unveil its fourth LP, The Dormant Darkness.

Into Eternity anyone? Fuck if I didn't get a hard-on for the opener, "Bloodline Artifice". All the same sweet spots massaged: regimented double-bass currents, gravitational riffs, stunning cleans, striking leads and glorious melodic passages. Fresh like pancakes, man… There's a lot going on here. The album's aggression is offset by its sentiment. For every blazing, swirling minute of progressive/technical/melodic/avant-garde bedazzlement, there are equal parts heart & soul to be felt as well. I guess we're doing power metal stuff now during the intro to "A Futile Endeavor". What a nice touch with all the pinch harmonics. And then galloping along to some tasty chugs one minute and drooping your lids to some intoxicating melodies the next.

Such energy, like this guy gives a shit about what he's doing or something. This isn't some throw-the-major-label-a-bone LP, but a statement. You'll get it… An almost industrial vibe to "Where The Armless Phantoms Glide, Pt. II" as the rhythm section becomes something entirely too precise to be organic. Robotic rhythms drive forward chug-fueled leads as maniacal vocal tirades  somehow overpower it all. Man, George Kollias (Nile) would be proud of our boy here. Josh proving to be a formidable percussionist as well as a remarkable axeman.

As far as engineering, tonality and all that mumbo-jumbo, except a gargantuan sound, like Septicflesh or Belphegor big with every phase pulsating at surface level. Grab yourself by the balls and spit, because this is big boy melo-death, and yet so refined all the same. Somebody throw this dude a record deal. He's better than 3/4 of the schlubs you've got on your roster! Melodic death metal for transcendence beyond the status quo and to breathe some fresh life into the genre. It comes down to songwriting. A fundamental approach will always trump all the fancy shit: nice segmentation, anticipatory changes in tempo, reciprocity and choral. All the stuff that just makes for great music. All right here, my friends. When these techniques are combined with this kind of adeptness and imagination, the result is brilliant records like The Dormant Darkness. It's better because it's American! Just kidding, but seriously, you'll dig this one. Horns up!

Rating: 8.5 out of 10