CD: Brothers of the Sonic Cloth – Brothers of the Sonic Cloth

Those with long memories may remember Tad from the first wave of Seattle grunge. The band accompanied Nirvana on their first UK tour and released some lively metal-heavy records such as God’s Balls, Salt Lick and Eight-Way Santa, before disappearing in the late 90s. 15 or so years later, mainman Tad Doyle is back with a sludge rock, pagan rite of immense proportions.

Clearly Tad’s new band, Brothers of the Sonic Cloth, don’t have a life full of sunshine and flowers, as their debut album is not exactly stuffed full of life affirming ditties. Brothers of the Sonic Cloth does, however, feel very much like a unified piece of work, rather than a collection of disparate tracks. The album builds from the portentous power chords of “Lava” to the eleven-minute brooding epic “La Mano Poderosa” before slowly receding towards the off-kilter and unsettling piano of “Outro”. Largely gone are the grunge riffs of yore, to be replaced by atmospheric yet grinding rock music that sometimes suggests Black Sabbath on Mogadon.

“Empires of Dust” and “Unnamed” are album highlights, being almost cinematic in their scope before Tad’s fierce guitar and growling vocals of doom and gloom crash in, backed by Peggy Doyle’s stodgy bass and Dave French’s thunderous drumming. However, there is nothing one-note about this album. “I Am” brings to mind proto-grungers Killdozer’s droning riffs and their black sense of humour, with Tad proclaiming “We know what it’s like to be unknown”, while following track, “The Immutable Path” is all tribal drumming and chanted vocals.

Brothers of the Sonic Cloth may seem to follow the arc of a tropical storm, with a building and threatening power that finally recedes away, but it’s certainly no noodling, progressive rock concept piece. This is truly heavy music.