Fans of awesomenism rejoice! You have a new favorite band. Turns out metal is a hard thing to pull off, and Early Man, at least on this three-song demo EP, have really done it. Too often those who harp on metal end up either noodley, like the Champs or Oxxxes, or jokey, like The Darkness. Both of those things can be fine and good, but ultimately don't reach the same levels of awesomenism as Eddie and Ozzy. Early Man manages to succeed on both fronts. They bring the hott riffffs without seeming clinical or showy, and they pray to the dark lord without having that cheeky tone dominate the music.
The EP opens with "Fight!" which goes "All right, so you wanna fight! My fists are sticks of dynamite!" (Okay maybe it is a little on the jokey side.) The duo deftly alternates between tempos in this short, three and a half minute song, driving full force to get the metal head-bobbing started, then slowing it down to a more grinding, puctuated pace for a real punch in the gut.
The other two songs take up a lot more space. "Death is the Answer to My Prayers" fully invokes the Sabbath sound and is the best song on this EP. In the bridge, the one guitarist plays two parts, chugging a few chords and then breaking in a devil-horns-in-the-air descending riff. About halfway through, the song completely changes direction, injecting a few minutes of rollicking AC/DC rock and f'ing roll into the middle of the heavy psych-out.
The final song, "The Undertaker is Calling You," is a little more experimental in song structure, beginning with a three minute guitar solo before bringing the hot rock in the next three minutes. The bridge in the second half of the song is great, casting dark colors all over the space, covering up the rumbling bass-heavy drumming, however the song takes a little too long to get started.
I bought this EP last year after hearing Dave Pajo was playing bass for the duo at live shows, but it totally kicked me in the ass seeing as how, even post-Zwan, it's totally not like anything you'd relate to Pajo. If, like me, you were lucky enough to buy this EP when the band released it in a limited run last year, you can say goodbye to your E-Bay resale value; Monitor has just re-released it with cover art and a jewel case. Huzzah for them.
