This band like Alice in Chains. A lot. At one time that would have been cool, because there was no Alice In Chains. Now there is again. Ya get me.
OK that is off my chest These guys are good at what they do. They have the grunge/stoner thing down pat. Production is good and the riffs sound good and heavy. The vocalist has gone to town in his Layne worship especially on opener Theta and its successor AOL .
Civil Disobedience continues in the same vein. Seriously? I cannot find an original thing to say about this band. They are so derivative it is painful. The trouble is they sound fucking great. Acerbic starts with a nice Albert Fish quote (very 90’s – serial killer fandom) then gets a groove going before the vocal kicks in . At last summat different. No more life in the farce Layne. Here, Pineal have gone for a vocal line more reminiscent of Warrel Dane and have added a prog metal flavour but barely has it started and it is gone. Somatic follows with a delicious vibe and sumptuous vocals leading onto closer Tides which offers more of the same.
Pineal have offered up 25 minutes of heart rending grunge wonderfully executed and played with heart. It just feels that the aforementioned organ has already been plucked from another group from Washington state. This is not the greatest album in the world. This is a tribute.
(3/10 Matt Mason)
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