Were-Jaguars are an American doom / psych outfit out of Austin Texas led by multi-instrumentalist Chad Rauschenberger. Aptly named after the Mezo-American shaman who would shape shift after taking peyote, Were Jaguars offer up a truly metallic and psychedelic slab of molten riffage on their sophomore effort II, released by our favorite Russian label and all-round connoisseurs of good music, RAIG.
Largely instrumental in nature, with the odd track featuring some far out chants or vocal treatments, this disc contains a whopping seventy minutes of densely layered, balls to the wall, high octane guitar riffs that hit you upside the head like a sledgehammer. Backed by an equally thunderous rhythm section, Rauschenberger's acid laden trip is definitely not for the faint at heart. Considering that for the most part, this type of instrumental stoner rock can have a tendency to be rather one dimensional, Rauschenberger changes things up on a regular basis, by shifting the atmospherics mid song, or by inserting eastern sounding guitar motifs and the odd sampled bit of dialogue, thus avoiding some of the typical trappings of the genre.
This isn't ground breaking stuff by any stretch of the imagination, but I have to say that all in all, this second release from Were-Jaguars is definitely a rock solid effort from top to bottom.
Track Listing
1) Between The Armies
2) Nagual
3) Agalma
4) Transform Yourself
5) Let My Breath Be The Air
6) A Situation Of Exposure
7) The Morbid Science Of Eternity
8) Bishop Kills Enchanter
9) Blurring Dead
10) Ecstatic Prayer Interrupted By Violence
11) Lost Soul
12) Agalmas
13) Divided, Alone
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