GRASS – Fresh Grass
Release Date: February 22, 2019
At some point this shit just gets flat out ridiculous. This whole stoner rock/metal movement has just gotten out of control. Like we all know, music is subjective and while I feel like there are some stoner rock/metal bands out there that do it well and do it from a sincere place. This is definitely not the case with this Brooklyn based band that I’m about to talk about.
Their name is… get ready… are you ready for it? GRASS. A stoner rock band called GRASS (yes, in all caps). This would be like someone opening a gas station calling it GAS. GRASS’s latest release is called Fresh Grass (cleaver, eh?) and it literally sounds like four guys walked into a music store and purchased the stoner rock/metal starter kit: Orange amps, gnarly distortion pedals, and leased an old ass boogie van to haul their implements of musical destruction from venue to venue.
Opening track “Amnesia/My Wall” has vocalist Phil Anton sounding like he literally learned how to sing out of key which works out well with the out with sloppy, out of key guitar work of Joe Stuppiello. “Black Clouds” is where things just took a turn for the worst. With lyrics featuring clichés such as angels, demons, and even a crown of thorns that is bleeding him dry, this song also contains one of the single most tooth grating vocals I have ever heard in a song.
At no point did this 5 song EP get any better. As a matter of fact, to make it through this whole thing, I had to take a break after the horribly pitchy “Fire” to get a cup of coffee. “In the night the fire burns. Yeahhhhhh yeah!” Oh my fucking God please make it stop. When you have to take a break three songs in on a five song EP, you know this is not good.
I did make it through all five songs which closed out with the predictably horrible drudge of ‘Easy Rider” and then it was finally over. I felt like my ears needed a shower after hearing Fresh Grass. Maybe this stuff would sound better with better written lyrics, a better singer, and well, just a better everything. GRASS even had t-shirts that say “Grass is Trash.” Hell, I probably could’ve just left it at that.
Nothing about this band is new, exciting or original. Even the album art work just screams, “Hey, we’re trying really hard here, guys!” The band sounds as bored as I was if not more which does not create a good listening experience. There is nothing fresh about this band or this release. Full of every cliché lyric, every predictable sludgy riff, and even down the production, GRASS is just a band that will just be joining all the others like them that try way too fucking hard only to drown in an ocean of sub mediocrity.
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