INDIAN

As the cosmic whirring and acid-trip drone of four-and-a-half minute instrumental opener "No Able Fires" fills the air, it's a cinch that smooth crooning and hardcore breakdowns won't be following. In fact, INDIAN moves right into a nine-and-a-half-minute crawl called "Ration" that sets the tone for remainder of the sludge/doom natural disaster that is "The Unquiet Sky". As obvious as the comparisons may seem, EYEHATEGOD and early period ELECTRIC WIZARD are both apt comparisons for the low-end fuzz thumping of this rabid and wounded dog of an album.

Though not raising the bar for the genre, there are certain intangibles that give "The Unquiet Sky" a little more personality and distinction than the average distortion peddler. Of course, it never hurts to have Sanford Parker's immense recording skills to give the delivery an extra boot in the ass. For all the slobbering dirge, INDIAN is adept at changing mood and tempo, if ever so slightly and if only for brief periods. A break from the crawl in "Tied and Gagged", complete with tension-building riffs and textured drumming, goes a long way toward deepening the album's impact. The same can be said of the opening motor-grinding riff and up-tempo shifts on "Los Nietos". At various points along the way, one is choked with feedback bile, such as during the beginning of "Loophole Noose" (another tune with good use of shift into quicker tempo territory with varied drumming),steam-rolled into painful submission, or ground down to a bloody nub.

At no point during "The Unquiet Sky" is the listener allowed to breathe easy, the smothering force of the music always looming large. And by the way, the macabre artwork and design of Scott Fricke (album cover and inside booklet) is fantastic. If you've ever wondered what it might feel like to be burned alive or drowned in quicksand, grab a copy of "The Unquiet Sky" and find out for yourself.