Earthride
Earthride (CD) 2000 Earth Brain
I've been spinning Earthride's excellent new disc, 'Taming of the Demons', quite a bit lately. It's such an infectious slab of old-school Maryland doom that, hands shaking like a wetbrain with the terminal DTs, I've had to pull their S/T EP off the shelf for a refreshing infusion. Yep, it's as good as I remembered it to be, a veritable interstate pileup of riffing doom. Comparisons of frontman Dave Sherman's (ex Spirit Caravan, Wretched) throaty "vo-kills" to Lemmy's are certainly apt, but I don't think Lee Dorrian misses the mark by much, either. Perhaps it's because I saw Earthride live when this EP came out, watching Dave play Dorrian-like with his mic chord/noose, that makes me think so. Guitarist and songwriter Kyle Vansteinburg and bassist Joe Ruthvin's tones are exemplary: fat, warm, and dirty. Stickman Eric Little (ex Internal Void) pounds the skins with authority, changing tempo effortelessly from more up-tempo sections to embrace the slow, throbbing doom. The songs are Maryland old-school, through and through. Great druggy, doomy lyrics, downtuned, sludgy tempos alternating with speedfreak breakouts, and Sabbath, Sabbath everywhere. The cover art features Durer's woodcut of the 4 Horsemen; how doomy is that? Earthride are building a dark tower over the bleak land of trad. doom, and this EP is the impenetrably strong foundation.	1. Earthride 2. Black 3. Enter Zacfreyalz 4. Weak End Approx. 24 minutes
Reviewed by: Kevin McHugh