Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010

THE SHRINE – S/T

reviewed by Ian Jones

The Shrine is a force to be reckoned with. The self-titled single starts off with some average drums and guitar feedback. Then, suddenly, it sucks you in like a black hole with the drums bellowing and gurgling before the full band comes back in to smack you in the face with a soulful southern riff that carries the rest of the song. The singer/guitarist bouncing between vocals and riffage has a nice balance throughout the entire track.

The second song, “Olympic Airstreams,” is a phased-out Smokey rock jam sure to please all fans of psychedelia. The Shrine has this incredible power to go from wailing, tapping, effect pedal-singed guitar licks one moment, and then into bouncing, crunchy, straight-in-your-face rock. And it works incredibly well; the songs and their sound do not feel tired or worn, but fresh and raw.

The instrumentation is by far the strength of this band. The vocalist doesn’t add much to the songs besides lyrics that simply guide your mind in a direction to figure out what the song is about. However, the guitar solos, breakdowns, and overall strength of this trio all playing at once is incredible.

I simply cannot wait for a full album or a tour, and cannot understand (based on the bio given on their website) how this band could be anything but mad trips and mind expansion live. If they are in your area, smoke a joint with your friends and don’t tell them how much this band rocks; it’ll be worth it to see them piss their pants and wait till the set is over to attempt to clean it up.

(Nice & Friendly Records, 814 Pacific Ave., Venice, CA 90291)