The latest from sludge/noise merchants Zozobro, Savage Masters, is roughly 15 minutes of mayhem from Caleb Scofield, Adam McGrath, and JR Connors that surprisingly took nearly 5 years to complete. For some, 5 years since 2008's Birds of Prey and all we get is 15 minutes of music will seem a little absurd, but seeing that this is basically a side project of Scofield while he devotes most of his time to Cave In, perhaps any release under the Zozobro moniker is a good thing. As for the music, these 6 tracks are all noisy, sludge ridden attempts at post hardcore, with plenty of heavy riffs, feedback, rumbling bass, crashing drums, and vocals that vary from bellows, barks, screams, and garbled shouts. "A Chorus of War" features some interesting psychedelic effects sprinkled in amongst the cacophany, and both "The Cruelest Cat" and "Venom Hell" contain some really deep grooves (the bass playing here is massively heavy) to go along with the crushing riffs. The problem though throughout Savage Masters is that the songs are all too brief, and because there's not enough time for any of them to really develop, too many of them tend to have a certain 'sameyness' that doesn't really help matters. When the band does add some cool elements to the formula, like on the bruising "Born in a Blaze", with massive riffs and trippy effects just pummeling the listener, things become much more successful.
Savage Masters certainly isn't mandatory listening, but is decent enough to warrant checking out. One could only wonder how much better these songs would have been had they fleshed them out a bit beyond the 3-minute time barrier.
Track Listing
1) The Cruelest Cut
2) Venom Hell
3) Deathless
4) Black Holes
5) A Chorus of War
6) Born in a Blaze
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