Rogue Transmissions - Volume Feeder - Crowns and Chains (album review)

In the smoky village of Stoner Town reside a trio of hungry musicians known collectively as Volume Feeder.  For each member of the group a song emerges from an ever-present desire to wake up the masses and force feed high levels of fuzzy, hard rocking volume.

"King of Lies" is the first of these songs, hitting all the right reference points: Black Label Society, Corrosion of Conformity, Metallica, Down.  It's a slow grooving potboiler of southern metal which represents the band quite well.

In their bio, Volume Feeder recall how they started out playing Metallica covers before eventually writing originals and moving on from there.  A classic tale, one that this writer is intimately familiar with. Nowhere are the band's origins more clearly represented than on second track, "On Strings" which features Load-era chugging riffs with an accent on southern metal.

"Slave To The System" would not be out of place on any of Corrosion of Conformity's early nineties albums which is no real surprise as the the song title gives the game away pretty much instantly before listening.  If the band can be faulted for not hiding their influences they certainly can't be faulted for the way those influences are manifested.  This song kicks ass, as do the other two tracks on this short EP, I don't care how close to the source material the band veers.  At the end of the day the band is out to open minds and open ears and if a few beer are opened along the way, well those are just some more fallen soldiers in the war.  It's impossible not to join the band when the crusade is so worthy.

Of course, if I have a problem with this release it's not in what influenced it, it's that it's just too short.  Ten minutes is not even enough time to get settled into an ass groove on the couch cushion!  I've listened to at least twice as many songs today that are longer than the sum total of the three on this EP.  Sigh.  The better thing to do however would be to remain positive.  Where one might see rainclouds another might see rainbows and the upside of such a short release is that it's easily listenable and easily digestible.  At ten minutes, there's always time for Volume Feeder.  It's highly likely there's enough time to listen to this whole thing while waiting for the bus and time enough to listen to it multiple times while standing in line at any government facility.  Break time at work can be hyped up by this EP without having to cut it short or miss a note.  There are a million examples.  Really, I'm not mad at the band, I just want more.  It's hard to get enough of a good thing when it's this good.

Highlights include: "On Strings" and "Slave To The System"

Rating: 4.5/5

Total Run Time: 10:11

Balázs Imre - vocals, guitar
Drahota Gergő - bass
Jaksa Róbert - drums

From: Hódmezővásárhely, Hungary

Genre: Southern Metal, Stoner Metal, Hard Rock

Reminds me of: Black Label Society, Corrosion of Conformity, Down, Grizzly, Metallica, Steak

Release Date: February 1, 2013

Suggested listening activity for fellow non-stoners: Do your 7-minute abs workout one and a half times.

Better review:
Pure Grain Audio

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