Bemoaning a lack of heavy music in their local scene, this Orange County five-piece set out to address the imbalance with their heady, expansive sound.
Painted Wives meld the heavy churn of Mastodon’s Crack The Skye with the prog wizardry of Heritage-era Opeth and Alice in Chains’ bleak squall, with plenty of wallop and groove. Hollow Bones is deliciously decadent, sludgy guitars unfurling into a soaring chorus driven by Justin Suitor’s slightly manic vocals.
Not all of the tracks are as immediate, but Dig and Stay With Me have killer choruses that erupt from muscular stoner riffs, while the ornate Icy Blonde is littered with warped solos and kaleidoscopic noodling.
Obsessed With The End was originally released in 2014 and Lamb Of God/Clutch producer Machine has done a fine job of remixing and remastering its mind-melting psychedelia to reveal a bright colour palette and a sound that manages to be more than a sum of its parts.
