SANTERIA (House Of The Dying Sun) CD
Sometimes when I'm thinking about my beloved heavy music, I often ask myself if there's any unknown heavy band around, that impresses me so much that I could become immediatley a fan of them. This happened to me, when I received the promo of the third SANTERIA album. The band was born 1994 in Louisiana, but they don't come up with a Crowbar or Down-like sound. Only the brilliant vocals of Dege Legg reminds me sometimes to Dax, singer of the excellent Acid Bath (R.I.P.) and now member of Agents Of Oblivion. Aside of the outstanding musicianship, this album is rich on emotions and melancholy, without drifting into wimpy spheres. And although this band hails from the South of the USA, you don't find all the Confederate clichés in the sound and especially the lyrics are well worth to take a look at. SANTERIA describing their sound as Southern Tribal Rock, but there's much more to discover while listening to the included eleven tracks. There are influences from bands like The Allman Brothers ot Gov't Mule, but this five-piece have integrated world music, delta-blues and psychedelic parts, and they are also aware about 80's Hardrock bands as The Cult.
And with a track like "Cain's Way", they have left all Southern boundaries behind. Of course, this isn't the only track I like to recommend to you. Just check out the melancholic beauty of "Daddy's Bad Girl", the soulful heaviness of "Main Man" or the incredible "Wrong End Of The Day". Everything ends with the 20+ minutes long "Zixox" that's full of longing in the first hard rocking ten minutes. After that, the track turns into something mystical with a lot of voodoo-percussion and the sound of the swamps in the background. But as I've mentioned before, there's no absolutley no worse track on this album. It's an excellent listening pleasure, and with this album SANTERIA stomps tons of other bands into the ground. I won't live without it and I give you the advice to check out this album as soon as possible. It's like gazing into a sonic kaleidoscope. Have I mentioned that two drummers are in the line-up? Awesome! This album has been released on Golarwash Labs & Records in 2002 and for the newest informations about SANTERIA visit their homepage.