Ground Mower – Ground Mower

• 1st Jul 2008

There is an interesting space between rock n roll and metal, a space were some of the most exciting things take place-AC/DC are widely refereed to as ‘Hard rock’-even though most metal fans consider them the god fathers of the genre, similarly Led Zeppelin are held in the same high regard by heavy music fans, even though they write songs that are the basis of rock.

It seems that distortion and aggression push bands over into metal, and that blues riffing push them closer to rock n roll.

Ground mower exude that metal aggression and power ,with strong, swamp thick guitar chords and a weight derived from intense drumming; but in the same breath they pull out the groove and hooks of rock and roll with out any after thought-mainly because they are intent on achieving a complete sound and feel.

The results are a constant assault, haymaker after haymaker, until with ’War machine’ they take the gloves off and its unprotected taped fists raining down…then with ’Last ride’ the fists are dipped in broken glass and the attack continues, it’s only when they get set on fire that you potentially lose consciousness-like a beating, that you actually enjoy.

There’s a heady mix of Chris Cornell within Mange’s vocals at times closer to Robert Plant’s rock and growl than Cornell achieved, and there are numerous moments akin to Soundgarden, in particular ‘Badmotorfinger’ rather than their later, more polished styling’s; and its interesting that Audioslave’s output could sneak several of Ground Mower’s songs into their debut album, and no one would have noticed-in fact some parties may have even preferred.

Ground Mower are the reason you should dip you tow into the ocean of unknown bands, because occasionally a shark album like ’Ground Mower’ sneaks up on you and takes your whole fucking leg off.