Loaf

Bloomington, Indiana quartet Loaf recently released their full-length self-titled 5-song EP debut and if you are not familiar with those guys then it’s high time for you to “get loafy” indeed. The band are a highly unique entity that have a really distinct sound all of their own and its one that can inspire a lot of creativity in attempting to relay or describe it to others. The band’s own musical description is merely “Psychedelic Hard Rock” and while as fittingly appropriate as that is, it barely begins to do justice for the killer caliber of the group’s audio output. To me, there are definitive Folk Music elements intact within Loaf ‘s Retro riding Post-Grunge, Alt. Rock “Surfer Doom” (Thanks, Rock Man-Dave Proger!) and it’s all brought to life by guitarist/vox Parick Vollmer, guitarist Joe Piro, bassist/vox Dustin Ogilvie, and drummer/vox The Ryan.

The opening instrumental track “Isthmus” is introduced with some really darkly overtoned 90’s-ish nuances ala Soundgarden or Alice In Chains as it winds its way loose like a coiled serpent. It even invokes a sense of forebode at times while it builds its way to eventually crest and give way to the beautifully toned beginnings of second song “Cytherian Descent“. This is an immensely “feel good” track with subtle energies being powerfully dispersed in the fuzzy guitar tones, stellar drum play, navigating bass, and a vocal highly reminiscent of Canned Heat’s Bob Hite. Things remain calmly sedate throughout most of this atmospheric cut but there are a couple of instances toward the end where things get all densely rocking out. Third song “Happy Kitty” is the second songs’ antithesis as things are immediately high energy and laden with infectious guitar hooks and interestingly intermittent get-down shuffling. By the time the “B-b-belly rubs!” vocal chimes in toward the end you too will be a happy kitty as well. Fourth track “Tattered Sails” is a return to the trippy aesthetics of earlier songs with some distinct production twists like the hypnotic rhythm of the distant sounding guitar. There are also some real in-your-face bass lines as the song itself careens up and down in its intensity. That bass manifests yet again in the beginning of the fifth and final song “Morning Star” with its misleading mellower musical moments, ones that lull you into a sense of peaceful calm but its soon shattered by instances of static aggression and hard playing. That contrast clashes and continues to recycle itself in this shadowy rocker.

All in all this debut release from Loaf is highly eclectic and not at all the typical Metalhead’s fare but thankfully I pride myself in being musically enlightened and non-genre specific these days so I highly enjoyed this discovery. The five songs serve to properly introduce us to this talented quartet and will hopefully find favor with others that are able to think outside of the box and appreciate good music. - Metal Nexus