Review
Druglord
Motherfucker Rising

Druglord from Virginia are taking a slow, lurching crawl into this world. With this, their first proper LP, the three-piece make a case for less being more in many ways. The 6-song record resides on the cough syrup addled side of the metal/hardcore spectrum, relying on drawn out vocals and lengthy guitar passages. This is as good a place as any to begin with the band.

The opening title track plays to their perceived strengths, drawing the opening chords out like the longest rubber band seen only to dredge the sound long enough to build a foundation for everything else. The vocals rumble desperately from the distance sparingly before making room for a phased out bluesy solo which manages to close everything out in a stylish and almost classic form. The blues riffing remains for the next song albeit in a more drawn out form. "Cleansed" plays out a bit more of a classic rock sound, playing with an almost melodic tint to the vocal line while still reaming muscular, evil, and throaty. This song feels more stretched out than the opener while managing to be over a minute shorter in actual length. 

Throughout the record the band plays with effects within the context of solos to help make them feel otherworldly and out of time. This allows for chances to make the solos feel almost soulful while the rest of the song tends to sound syrupy thick without a sense of any overblown production. 

The production in itself is inconsistent with the songs at times. While within the context of some of the songs it helps to feel more classic, embracing the bluesy context of the riffs. On other occasions it tends to thin out the overall heaviness. In today's age of studio wizardry, one must assume this was an outright choice being that any band with a Macbook can overdub guitar tracks to hell and back. 

The album shows the band that can and, more than likely will, be something powerful within their little piece of the metal landscape. Most bands opt for maximum heaviness or outright classicism. Druglord both live up to their name and adorn their songs with a classicism that shows a defined maturity. The guitar , bass, and vocals all cover the heavy lifting but the drums tend to fall short overall, missing out on more than a few prime opportunities to create a huge fill and move the song along in a different way. Simply put, this album shows a band more than capable of making a dent, and then some.