I would argue that more than any other band of the era, Tad were the definitive sound of grunge. Sure, I went as apeshit as anyone over Nirvana and was a huge Hole fan (for the first couple of albums, at least). Mudhoney were ace, but bands like Soundgarden and Pearl Jam always sounded a bit safe, a bit country alt-rock. One of Sub Pop’s first signings, Tad never broke through despite scoring major label backing because they were the real deal, the sweaty, plaid-shirt working men who made grimy metal-influenced records as gritty as long slogging shifts of manual labour (Doyle himself was a butcher by trade). They weren’t pretty, visually or sonically: they were the real deal.
Tad Doyle, Tad’s front man and guitarist, is now at the helm of this power-trio and the lineage is clearly apparent. The riffs are heavy, chugging metal juggernauts, and the feel is very earthy, gritty, grainy. The opening gambit, ‘Lava’, is but a snifter, a three-minute flavour of what’s to come before they open out into vast sonic territories spanning seven, eight, eleven minutes. The crushing weight of ‘Empires of Dust’ as it grinds out at a 25bmp crawl shows exactly why they’ve found their home on Neurosis’ label, Neurot. It’s reminiscent of more recent Eath albums, but if Carlson had turned the gain up to the max and nabbed some of Stephen O’Malley’s bowel-trembling power chords for the hell of it. ‘Unnamed’ grinds out some monolithic metal fury, and there’s no shortage of big, trudging sonic expanses worthy of the descriptor ‘epic’. ‘La Mano Ponderosa’ is a definitive track, a meaty, sludge-metal dirge with thunderous drums that sprawls over a full eleven minute stretch.
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CD bonus cut ‘The Immutable Fury’ charges some lengthy drones over some tribal percussion and finds the Brothers coming on like Fields of the Nephilim.
Heavy shit indeed. And also seriously good.
Tad Doyle / Brothers of the Sonic Cloth Online
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