- Oct 22, 2006
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The Atomic Bitchwax – Boxriff
Meteor City – 690989003927 – August 2006
By Dan Fisher
The creatively named The Atomic Bitchwax are back with Boxriff, an album that welds bluesy, Hendrix-inspired meanderings to the harder sound of classic Sabbath-esque riffage. The release contains an audio and video version of a live gig the band staged in Seattle, after popping into the studio with Jack Endino to squeeze out a four track EP during their USA tour. The fruits of this session are also available on the record.
There isn’t really much to say about this band if truth be told. All their songs sound like a cross between Hendrix’s ‘Fire’ and early Soundgarden. This wouldn’t be so bad if they had a vocalist like Chris Cornell but in Bitchwax’s case, the singing sounds like Hendrix in a wind tunnel. Chris Kosnik describes their new guitarist Finn Ryan on their website as someone who can ’actually sing’. I’m sorry to break it to you but this is just not true. If you’re into stoner rock then I’m sure this album will appeal to you. For me they would even be okay as a first on warm up act to someone bigger outside this genre. But to have to sit through an hour of instrumentals consisting of psychedelic blues solos and riffs bastardised from Led Zeppelin and Sabbath is about as fun as an after show party with The Osmond brothers.
On a more positive note I concede that they can play their instruments pretty well with the rhythm section, namely Ackerman and Kosnik, showing good synchronicity. I am more concerned though with the derivative nature of the band’s music - however well played - and would be much more interested if we were treated to some of the more flamboyent psychedelic elements that made their influences so ace. Lastly, I would like to talk about the DVD. Now surely the purpose of seeing the band playing these songs is to give the audience an idea of the awesome live gig experience. We should be saying ‘hot diggity, I gotta see them’. Unfortunately none of the current line up had enough stage presence to grab the attention of the audience and if you watch the DVD it becomes apparent that the amount of applause decreases over time as the audience start to realise ‘this is it’.
Until The Atomic Bitchwax remove themselves from their mobius strip of overused hard rock ideas and push themselves into doing something challenging, they will continue to be a band that is listened to and then immediately forgotten. Boxriff is good enough for fans of the genre but beyond these boundaries it has a very limited shelf life.
5/10 Album
4/10 DVD
UM’s Review Rating Scale
Official The Atomic Bitchwax Website
Official Meteor City Website
Meteor City – 690989003927 – August 2006
By Dan Fisher
The creatively named The Atomic Bitchwax are back with Boxriff, an album that welds bluesy, Hendrix-inspired meanderings to the harder sound of classic Sabbath-esque riffage. The release contains an audio and video version of a live gig the band staged in Seattle, after popping into the studio with Jack Endino to squeeze out a four track EP during their USA tour. The fruits of this session are also available on the record.
There isn’t really much to say about this band if truth be told. All their songs sound like a cross between Hendrix’s ‘Fire’ and early Soundgarden. This wouldn’t be so bad if they had a vocalist like Chris Cornell but in Bitchwax’s case, the singing sounds like Hendrix in a wind tunnel. Chris Kosnik describes their new guitarist Finn Ryan on their website as someone who can ’actually sing’. I’m sorry to break it to you but this is just not true. If you’re into stoner rock then I’m sure this album will appeal to you. For me they would even be okay as a first on warm up act to someone bigger outside this genre. But to have to sit through an hour of instrumentals consisting of psychedelic blues solos and riffs bastardised from Led Zeppelin and Sabbath is about as fun as an after show party with The Osmond brothers.
On a more positive note I concede that they can play their instruments pretty well with the rhythm section, namely Ackerman and Kosnik, showing good synchronicity. I am more concerned though with the derivative nature of the band’s music - however well played - and would be much more interested if we were treated to some of the more flamboyent psychedelic elements that made their influences so ace. Lastly, I would like to talk about the DVD. Now surely the purpose of seeing the band playing these songs is to give the audience an idea of the awesome live gig experience. We should be saying ‘hot diggity, I gotta see them’. Unfortunately none of the current line up had enough stage presence to grab the attention of the audience and if you watch the DVD it becomes apparent that the amount of applause decreases over time as the audience start to realise ‘this is it’.
Until The Atomic Bitchwax remove themselves from their mobius strip of overused hard rock ideas and push themselves into doing something challenging, they will continue to be a band that is listened to and then immediately forgotten. Boxriff is good enough for fans of the genre but beyond these boundaries it has a very limited shelf life.
5/10 Album
4/10 DVD
UM’s Review Rating Scale
Official The Atomic Bitchwax Website
Official Meteor City Website
