The stoner rock scene truly is in rude health right now with bands like JD Overdrive and Grifter kicking out herbal scented jams with considerable force, but at the forefront surely lie the ever-immense Los Disidentes Del Sucio Motel, a band who belong squarely in the record collection of any fuzzy-minded music fan, their monumentally syrupy riffs a never-ending pleasure in which to indulge. Back with a brand new record entitled ‘Arcane’ LDDSM are long of beard and black of outfit and sound as if they were locked away in a shed somewhere with only a clutch of LPs by, well, Clutch, Black Sabbath, Kyuss and Monster Magnet for company (alongside a monstrous bag of weed and a convenient pile of instruments with which to form a rock band) in case of nuclear disaster, only to emerge, blinking, into the sunlight having learnt to play while floating on a haze of green-tinted smoke.
Make no mistake, LDDSM have in no way stepped down their game from their previous, excellent, endeavours and ‘Arcane’ is the sort of ludicrously strong effort you will have come to expect from the band if you’ve picked up their earlier works (and a cataclysmically wonderful surprise lies in store for you if you have not). Comprising ten tracks, the album kicks off with the Kyuss-on-a-doom trip track ‘A.T.A.R.I’, the huge swirling riff seemingly hewn from the same living rock Josh Homme draws his inspiration from, whilst the vocals are delivered with maximum force over the top of the raging cacophony, occasionally even breaking into harmony as a means of combatting the surging vitality of the humungous riffs. ‘Lucky man’ has a more classic metal feel to it, the harmonised riffs leading into a track that is pure driving rock, the tone of the guitars so dry you can practically feel the grit and sand blowing into your face as the band tear into the chorus. ‘Z’ opens with a deeply creepy, sample-laden piece of atmospheric noise before lumbering into a sludge-heavy riff fest that almost groans under its own immense weight. In contrast the vital groove of ‘Santa muerte’ may well have a bass sound that troubles the core of the earth with its vibrations, but with handclaps and fast-paced riffs, it’s a rocking number that is destined to devastate any pit the band unleash it upon.
With a diabolical title a guitar sound that Iommi will undoubtedly want back at some point and levels of harmony that belong to the Alice in chains school of heavy melody, ‘Ouija’ is a menacing piece of mid-tempo evil that worships Black Sabbath from a safe enough distance that it does not fall into the tawdry category of plagiarism and inastead has you genuflecting before the band in a state of awe. ‘Godfather’ sees the band piling on Uriah Heep-esque organs, full throttle riffs, patchouli-drenched vocal harmonies and thunderous percussion before album highlight ‘Mojo’ is delivered with the same sense of detached cool that made QOTSA’s ‘Little sister’ such an unlikely hit. Heavy of riff and yet possessed of numerous subtle nuances that are too many and too varied to succinctly describe, ‘deathproof’ is another monster track that highlights the band’s playful sense of experimentalism and unfailing ability to craft songs with grooves so deep you need a rope to get out of them. ‘Kraken’ lives up to its name with a chrome plated riff that rises from the deep to snatch down any unfortunate vessel passing overhead and, like the titular monster, it leaves no prisoners. The final track (and, seriously, have fifty minutes passed?? Because it feels like five!), ‘journey’, opens with a subtle sample and rippling, post-rock guitars before the fuzz comes charging in and decimates the tranquillity for a wonderful finale that covers huge swathes of hard rock territory over its epic run time. It’s a perfect finale to an album with no obvious low points and once again LDDSM have achieved a minor musical miracle.
It’s amazing, once again, to hear how LDDSM have gone from strength to strength, building upon the successes of their previous work to make ‘Arcane’ the strongest thing the band have yet released. A towering colossus of stoner riffs, heavy rock attitude and influences too numerous to mention, LDDSM are once again ahead of the curve with their inventive and creative stoner rock, and ‘Arcane’ earns its place in even the most selective of collections thanks to the band’s innate musicality and the many subtle melodic nuances that make this a rewarding and memorable release.
