Album of the day: Egypt – Egypt

Lovingly pinched from The Obelisk: Rare are the times in my life where the phrase, “Fuck yeah, Dire Straits!” has crossed my lips. In fact, I can only think of one instance, and that was the first time I heard the uber-fuzz guitar tone on ‘Dirty Witch’, the third of four songs on Fargo, North Dakota, trio Egypt’s self-titled EP.
Originally released on vinyl in 2007 via Lyderhorn Records (since relocated to Norway), Egypt finds its first CD issue courtesy of MeteorCity’s ongoing reconnaissance program to unearth quality, unheard Sleep-style stoner metal.

Sure enough, Sleep is a chief reference here, as it is for much of MeteorCity’s latter day output, but Egypt work in an even more classic rock vein, bassist / vocalist Aaron Esterby having a far-off-the-mic feel to his approach that sounds like it would go well over an enthusiastic crowd at a sweltering summer festival. Likewise, Ryan Grahn’s guitar is warm and easy on the ear in a classic style, sounding particularly sweet on closer “Touch Ground”, the first two and a half minutes of which unfold calmly and casually so that when the massive riff around which the song winds up being based comes in nearly 30 seconds later, it’s all the more grandiose. Kudos to drummer Chad Heille for morphing his style to suit the situation at hand, be it the jazzy snare work that starts the song or the rampaging crash cymbal that finishes it.

Continue reading: The Obelisk » Blog Archive » Egypt is Ready for the Digging.
(Very special thanks to JJ Koczan for his kind permission)

Tags: album of the day, Egypt, JJ Koczan, Meteorcity, stoner metal, stoner rock, The Obelisk

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 29th, 2009 at 10:25 am and is filed under Album of the Day, Roadburn Recommended . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.