Trunk

Hippie death metal. What a title. A genre tag like that promises many things, and #Trunkdoom are more than happy to deliver on those promises on their self-titled debut EP.

Despite their Bandcamp tag saying “hippie death metal”, I’ll describe Trunk’s sound as groovy doom rock-infused death metal for clarity’s sake. While the “death-doom” tag may recall bands like vintage Katatonia and October Tide, in reality, these acts couldn’t be further from the fun, fuzzy tunes on this promising debut.

Starting things off is “Empty Jar”, a punchy little number with some great dirty hippie grooves, complete with carelessly barked vocals courtesy of Ross Cohen that sit somewhere in between Mike Williams of Eyehategod and a homeless man gargling nails. I like this so far.

Following “Empty Jar” is “Buried Face Down”, the album’s shortest track, and our first taste of some of Trunk’s death metal stylings. Shifting gears from the slower doom tempos, drummer Dave Quake (a drummer’s name if I ever did hear one) punishes his kit with frenzied blast beats. Jeremy Lorenzon shows off his technical chops with some choice cuts of meaty riffs, and we even get to hear some low-range death growls before the song is over.

The rest of the EP follows much of that same structure; groovy, hard rockin’ doom followed by a flurry of death metal body shots. It’s not the most complicated formula in the world, but why does it need to be?

As the temperature starts to warm up, and spring finally shows its face, I find myself drawn to this kind of fun, carefree music, and this EP hit the spot just right. While I could neeeeeever condone such actions, ( - Metal Reese