Thursday March 28th 2024

Hooch – “Tomb Grooves”

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Hooch – “Tomb Grooves”

 

Hooch, definition- alcoholic liquor, especially inferior or illicit whiskey. Also, slang term for marijuana, that is rarely used today.

Hmmm, never heard of the later part. I’ve heard of a “hoochie”- a young woman who has many casual partners or who dresses or behaves in a sexually provocative way.

Seems like only positive attributes are attributed to the namesake of this band. And for myself, though I am known to dress provocatively, seems the first description would be most apt for me.

But we are not here to talk of me or my loose morals or my loose pants. We are here to talk of Hooch, the metal band that may make illicit actions possible, forbidden by law, but only because, as they say, anything that makes you feels this good must be illegal.

And if you say, “Oh, Slimedog- this here music is all gloomy and doom-y and just makes me feel like a hedgehog that almost got run-over by a Volkswagen Bug on his way home with a treat in his mouth.”

I say to you- this music is not your happy la-la songs, the powers that be want you to lap up along with your daily ration of hell- but music that expresses and releases that pain in a catharsis of feeling. In which that hedgehog, a metaphor for your life or something that really did escape unhurt under my car tonight!- is given substance for your feelings.

And the vehicle for this feeling, this music is Hooch, a metal/ doom/ sludge band from Boston. Not my vehicle which almost killed the hedgehog or possum, who is from Boston, also. When I questioned him on what he was- he told me, “I don’t know what I am. I guess it doesn’t matter. No one has asked me this question before. Or anything else, for that matter.”

I recently caught Hooch at a show at the Midway and was duly impressed. And I continued to be impressed with their bandcamp. The Sabbath-like monolithic slabs of sound that fall upon your ears without warning, the doom-y, intense, headbanging vibes that encompass the music, ably provided by the excellent rhythm section and the emotionally expressive, jarring vocals in lieu of the usual, gruff, barking hardcore ones.

But now, let us put aside questions of hedgehogs, at least for a moment, and imbibe on their music and see if it quenches our thirst:

“Smells Like Thunders” comes plodding out of the gates of hell with a minor key, fuzzed guitar lick that’s spit out like it was from a drooling gargoyle- that’s met with a heavy, solid beat while gargled, hysterical vocals scream above the sound. About halfway through the rhythm kicks it up a notch while the vocals still wail in agony. The beginning is reprised but the unrelenting intensity never recedes, until this great song is laid to rest.

“Sex, Violence And Mind Control” starts out in a dirge that sounds like machinery being turned on in a slaughterhouse, while the screaming vocals suggest emotional despair or perhaps, an insane asylum inmate suffering a bad acid trip. But I think about all of this in a positive light- some Sabbath like changes and licks lay in the heart of this song. Also, a heaping dose of anguished intensity and pain. And what is left, after all the aural destruction, is another great tune.

“Lizard Planet” moves along with a somewhat, more upbeat funk groove while dissonant, minor key guitars buzz above like deranged wasps. That and the strangled, wail of the vocals follow along as an awesome, headbanging riff leads the way. The vocals still sound like a death cry but all this doom and gloom just gives me miles of smiles.

“King Of The Woods” starts with a rhythm that suggests a giant bear, shot by a tranquilizer gun, staggering through a forest. The pace is slow, somber and intense with the guitars doom-y cadence and the vocals emotive despair aiding and abetting the vibe. The staggered, swinging beat continues until, suddenly, the guitar ignites the rhythm section and the music is accelerated. Only to set the song headlong into an abyss of death, destruction and ruin or, on second thought, maybe just to the end of another great song.

I’ll admit I’m a sucker for bands that make me think of early Black Sabbath, as Hooch certainly does- but then most metal bands I run into, nowadays, makes me think of them. How can anyone do the doom-y, minor key style and avoid being compared to them?

But few bands do it as well as Hooch, or bring that style up to the present so well, or have vocals that don’t rely on the typical gruff, hardcore vocals, so prevalent, but have vocals that are emotive, expressive and that are still, disturbing as hell.

I guess cheerfulness and fun is not something I’d attribute to their music. But sometimes that is hard to attribute to life. The hedgehog tonight said to me, “I was just trying to get home with my dinner while you were going to the supermarket to get yours. And you almost killed me, and you ask me- why I choose to listen to grindcore? It’s self-explanatory.”

Wise-ass, I should’ve killed him when I had the chance.

But with the music of Hooch- intensity, realness and uncompromising integrity are words I wouldn’t hesitate to use.

And no! This music doesn’t make me sad. Bright, happy pop tunes are usually the ones that do that for me.

This might be a bitter draught (draft) to handle, but I’ll drink down this potent hooch with glee.

Cheers!

(Slimedog)

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