The Bottom Line
Pros
- Heavy, heavy, heavy.
- Mastodon provides the groundwork; Fiftywatthead seizes the moment in loud, strident fashion.
Cons
- Choppy on rare occasions.
Description
- Released November 11, 2008 on Signed By Force Records.
- This is Fiftywatthead's third CD.
- Fiftywatthead formed in 1999 in Ontario, Canada.
Guide Review - Fiftywatthead - 'Fogcutter'
With the same mathematic mentality as Mastodon in sculpting their sequentially lumbering tracks, Fiftywatthead arranges their mud-raked chords and amp-busting guitar solos into ordered structures on Fogcutter, making for a not-dissimilar listening experience to their high-profile comparables. What Mastodon did for Moby Dick, Fiftywatthead does likewise for the nautical drama of Sir Ernest Shackleton.
The winding instrumental leading the title track practically pays tribute to Mastodon; ditto for “Four Points” and “Whiteout.” While we’re in greasy stoner kinda mind, there’s a bit of later-era Corrosion of Conformity dotting “Capsized” as well as the Melvins and even Neurosis reflected on the sonic drag of “Last Leg.”
Jason Drummond’s vocals sometimes assume a growling panache similar to Mastodon’s Troy Sanders, while on “Seadawg“ he cuts his esophagus loose to the point he resembles a mid-seventies Gene Simmons.
As Fogcutter checks out with a sharkbitten march within the first few bars of “Followed by Thunder” and the remainder of the track shambles heavily to a prolonged, gritty bob, it’s safe to say Fiftywatthead has already begun transitioning themselves as Mastodon acolytes into something genetically bred of their doom-ripped vociferousness.
