RETRO-REVIEW: Wow, Id forgotten how WILDLY BADASS this album is, until I just got a copy again after about 20 years: Head of Davids Dustbowl (1988) . It was extremely influential upon the second-wave, guitar-oriented industrial music genre and its industro-metal and industro-rock progeny. The Dustbowl material is sludgy and dark, more menacing than aggressive for the most part, and as often dirge-like as it may be riffy or energetic, with acid [rock, not house!] and doom overtones, mixed with a punk-informed attitude, layered upon classic hard rock and blues-metal roots. HoDs shadow falls especially over second-wave industrial, like the reinvented versions of Ministry/Revolting Cocks (i.e., from Stigmata-onward), Godflesh (HoD is in fact one of the precursors of Godflesh), post-Sin Nine Inch Nails, later (metallic) Front Line Assembly, and, to a lesser extent, the more metal-oriented Fear Factory (who covered HoDs Dog Day Sunrise). Their effect on Ministry was so strong that any Ministry fan can immediately hear which HoD tracks directly inspired which songs on the first two albums of the Jourgenson/Barker version of Ministry and contemporary releases by their side projects, including RevCo). Echoes of Dustbowl can also be clearly heard in 1990s stoner metal a.k.a. desert rock, as an influence very distinct from that of the American, pre-grunge alternative rock forces like early Soundgarden, Rollins Band, early Soul Asylum, and Smithereens, all of whom were more angry (from Smithereens ticked-off-and-ironic to Rollins enraged-and-screaming) than they were *foreboding* the way HoD come off. Head of Davids gloom and menace is entirely in the songwriting, and is without any kind of death metal, black metal or death rock/goth costuming or theatrical antics (though one track on HoDs first album certainly qualifies sonically as death rock). To the extent that any contemporary metal/hard rock influenced HoD - other than the stronger edge of hardcore, like Black Flag and Adrenalin OD, and later, its kid brother, the trash wave of the MoD/SoD crowd - it would clearly have to have been doom metal, in the Candlemas vein, but without the self-consciously, melodramatically evil pretensions of that style at all. If you like either guitar-laden industrial or stoner rock, yet dont know this HoD album in particular, youll be totally stunned when you listen to it, as it is something of a hard rock rosetta stone for much of what happened in the 90s that wasnt grunge. HoD themselves are often incorrectly classified as stoner rock, but that term wasnt coined until half a generation later, in 1997, to retroactively refer to the style of Kyuss and other desert bands after about 1992. HoD also gets misclassified as industrial or industro-metal, but isnt at all; theres nothing electronic here, ever, nor anything that applies to the original sense of industrial music, e.g. using circular saws on oil drums as musical instruments. HoD are just vocals (decided not cyborg-style), distorted guitar and bass, and heavy, beat-to-hell drum kit. Thoe two varieties of edgier popular music do interrelate, which may explain why HoD influenced them both. Some of the side-project work of industrial greats like Cevin Key (e.g. platEAUs pot-legalization benefit album Music for Grass Bars) not to mention most the output of industro-rock supergroup Pigface, plenty of RevCos later jams, and even lots of the noodling brap material of Skinny Puppys live shows and more obscure recording sessions, has major stoner overtones, at least thematically and in intent, if not in exact stylistic positioning. If you dont care for either of those sorts of music, but do like Big Black and other more aggressive, hardcore-inflected post-punk, or youre a fan of East Coast noise rock, like pre-Dirty Boots Sonic Youth, and Lydia Lunch/8-Eyed Spy, youll love Dustbowl, too. BB and SY were both huge influences on HoD, and my ear tells me that LL was as well, especially on HoDs first album (titled simply LP), but even on this release. Head of David are akin to running all this second-gen punk *from America in particular* through a distinctly British filter (HoD being from England) that was tuned to *pre*-punk sensibilities. Its an explicit rejection of the UK punk scene, and of American mainstream hard rock and hair metal, too, as direct influences. If youre a metalhead, with little patience for industrial, stoner OR post-punk, you, too, get to dig this album! Other big influences on HoD were The Doors, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and early progressive rock, so many of HoDs tracks have neo-psychedelic and bluesy metal layers under the sonic assault, which in most places owes more to true heavy metal and proto-metal in the Iron Butterfly and Deep Purple, even early Floyd quadrants, than what passed for metal and hard rock in the 80s. That said, there are many HoD tracks, especially on Dustbowl and The Saveana Mixes EP (demos of stuff mostly re-recorded for Dustbowl), that have a decided thrash metal edge. This makes sense, given that their drummer through much of their peak period (namely 1987-89) was Justin Broadrick, originally of Napalm Death (and later Godflesh), and that the band already had an obvious hardcore influence (thrash was where the weight of metal ran headlong into the frenzy of hardcore, and bands happened). HoD also show a clear influence, vocally (especially on LP) and rhythmically (throughout their career), coming undeniably from the principally British, grittier metallized post-punk, especially the second, harder version of Killing Joke (the snarly albums that came after the sugary Brighter Than a Thousands Suns). Head of Davids unassuming combination of all these threads is one of the reasons they sound so prescient of post-Halloween Ministry, before post-Halloween Ministry existed (The Land of Rape and Honey didnt come out until 1988, two years after HoD released LP.) Ministry and its tribe of side projects pulled from many of the same influences (and far more so than they did from HoD directly). In further fairness to Ministry/RevCo, it must be said that Paul Barker and William Rieflins original band, The Blackouts, may well have been a minor influence on HoD in turn, and predated them by most of the 80s. Revolting Cocks and Ministry, in their original form as new-wavey, synth-based acts, also go back a ways, but their distorted-guitar, bass-wallowing, and percussion-heavy sound did not happen until long after HoD hit the scene. Honestly, the material on 1988s solidly-produced Dustbowl is superior in most ways to the HoDs earlier takes, on The Saveana Mixes EP and White Elephant Peel sessions record (recorded in 1987). In many cases, the Dustbowl tracks are re-recorded, more metallized songs from those earlier releases. The seminal 1986 LP (a.k.a. CD a.k.a. Cassette) is not to be missed, though. Im not going to review specific tracks at all here, because, as with many great albums, this isnt just a collection of songs, but a cohesive piece in several movements (albeit one without any pretentious prog-rock or rock-opera storyline), and should be listened to (the first time) all at once. I ended up putting about 3/4 of it on my iPod, and hardly any bands ever rate that much of a salute from me. Dustbowl on eBay: ebay/sch/i.html?_nkw=Head+of+David+dustbowl (I dont believe in buying old music on new CDs from extant major labels who have obtained the fire-saled assets of collapsed minor labels, so if you want an Amazon or iTunes link, you cant go find that yourself.)
Posted on: Sat, 09 Nov 2013 12:42:08 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015