Dark Ages starts off with some nicely distorted tremolo guitar on the 8 minute saga of “Stressed Elephant.” Slow and plodding like an actual elephant and just as heavy, the song goes through some complex tempo changes and blazing solos. Bison often gets compared to Mastodon and this song bears a strong resemblance, but they still have their own identity. “Fear Cave” is reminiscent of High On Fire, another band Bison gets compared to a lot. That means this song is really heavy. “Melody, This Is For You” is another 8 minute one with lots of Iron Maiden and Thin Lizzy influences. The beginning has some really nice production values. Acoustic guitars that sound like tiny rubber bands, huge booming drums and a totally filthy bass sound before the band comes in with a pummeling riff
“Die Of Devotion” is a doomy one like something off the first Trouble record and is followed up with by the all out thrasher “Take The Next Exit.” “Two Day Booze” is not a good song to listen to with a hangover. Learn from my mistake. The album finishes up with the 7 minute “Wendigo Pt. 3 (Let Him Burn)” that features an acoustic guitar and piano. After about a minute and a half the band crashes in with a giant riff and some nice tripped out wah wah guitar.
Bison are a very tight band. At the live show, young drummer Brad Mackinnon really hammered his drums but maintained a crushing groove with bassist Masa Anzai. Vocal duties are shared by guitarists James Farwell and Dan And (no relation to Johnny Winter And). They scream, grunt and groan a lot but never veer into cookie monster territory. Dark Ages is a great metal album. It’s only fitting that it’s out on Metal Blade Records since there’s a lot of Slayer, Trouble and Voivod in this band. Play loud, bang hard. That is all.
--Woody
Buy here: Dark Ages
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