Volt - Rorhat
< author: The GRB >
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Volt Rorhat Label: Exile on Mainstream Release Date: 09/11/06 |
It seems to me that most bands who are taking their cues from the first two Melvins albums and the late 1980s to early 1990s catalog of Amphetamine Reptile manage to do two things. Either they are wildly exciting or they end up sounding horribly boring and generic. These bands exist to create noise-rock that moves at a Frankenstein-like pace. For Germany’s Volt, who are highly influenced by the noise-rock forefathers, they have decided to take a chance and either sound very interesting or rather mediocre.
I’d have to complain that for a band that capitalizes on such a confrontational sounding genre, the production leaves a little to be desired and it sounds as if they still haven’t reached their full potential sound-wise. Then again, I’m a music critic who knows nothing about turning knobs.
The first track, “Kreuz,” dumps upon us a classic muddy-groove reminiscent of the Melvins along with howling and snarled vocals that rarely moves away from the formula except for the odd black-light dancehall noise track that appears at the end and segues into “Griffel,” which continues their mild Melvins worship. There comes a moment of some variation as we hear ten seconds of some funky-jam band intro on “Frommbug,” which then continues with the muddy heaviness.
However, by the time the middle of this album comes through our speakers, I get the feeling that these guys also like to worship at the altar of the highly underrated Dazzling Killmen. This is due to the moments of pseudo-technical start-stop rhythms and chaotic riffing, which the Dazzling Killmen perfected over a decade ago and are still not given their due. It sounds very evident in the fourth track, “Zwiggilusion,” which I feel is the disc’s most engaging track, and I thank them for the frustrated car-crash like ending of the song. “Stativ” continues with this vibe as well. Also, what’s up with the evil-sounding riff that opens up “Hospital in Whales?” Is it based off the Phyrgian mode? Is the singer attempting his best David Yow impression as well? I have no idea, but it sounds pretty cool. Personally, I feel they wasted some album space for a “noise” track in the form of the fifty-second “Praecrox.”
Volt really pushes the tolerance level for the listener on the last track of the album, which shares the band’s name. At first, you are treated with about a minute of dead space static, followed up by another minute of some noisy guitar treatments. The track then retreats into a snail’s pace of low end bass and cymbals. As eleven minutes go by, it seems a caged gorilla has joined the sessions, and it’s over just like that. The repetition might kill you, but I believe that’s what Volt intended.
Volt - Myspace