It’s taken a while for Distortion Ride’s debut long player to make its way from Toulouse, France, to my CD player, but I’m glad it did. They’re ostensibly a hard rock power trio, although as the cover hints, they lean a long way into heavy psyche, which colours some beefed-up, scuzzed-our blues-based riffs.
‘Bringer of Night’, the first ‘big’ song on the album, lulls the listener with gentle, melodic verses, sung with sensitivity, before a monster riff lumbers in and Matt P steps up a notch and brings the grit. Despite the length of the songs – the majority are over the 6-minute mark – there’s not a lot that’s excessive or extravagant in their makeup: yes, there are guitar solos, and they’re epic, but more in ambition and skill than duration.
The nine-and-a-half-minute title track is exemplary, with a long, slow build. A hushed, muted guitar twists around a trepidatious, serpentine bass and of course, you know there’s a riff coming eventually… the delayed gratification makes its thunderous arrival all the more of a watershed.
There are, perhaps inevitably, a few Zeppelin-esque moments, but then there are some more unexpected flourishes, too, such as the reggae-influenced guitar part in ‘Where the River Ends’, while ‘Night of the Black Now’ (dedicated to the memory of those who died during the firebombing of Tokyo in March 1945) ventures into darker, doomier territory early on, and trails out on mournful folk. For all the stereotypical genre-type riffology – which they do well – on ‘Burning Wave of Silence’ Distortion Ride show that they have an inventive side that sets them apart.
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