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PINE/CROSS DOVER: MASTERS OF REALITY’S GLORIOUS NOISE

Rating
  • Sammy O'Hagar
50

PINE/CROSS DOVER: MASTERS OF REALITY’S GLORIOUS NOISE

It takes condor egg-sized balls to name your band Masters of Reality and not be a bitchin’ stoner doom band. But uber-producer/desert rock (or stoner rock or whatever) pioneer Chris Goss has the figurative stones to do so, as MoR are anything but metal. What they are, however, is a top-goddamn-notch rock band, managing to simultaneously paint in broad strokes while writing incredibly compact-yet-effective songs. Masters of Reality is Goss’ baby, and the amount of care and precision that apparently when into their latest, the excellent Pine/Cross Dover, is apparent. Music this complex but inviting is clearly catered by a guy who knows his shit. The album seems to travel all over the place– from sugary garage pop to bizarre dark alleys– while sounding consistent. It’s a weird but ultimately pleasing place to visit.

Chris Goss — who’s produced and collaborated with Kyuss, Screaming Trees, and Queens of the Stone Age, among many others — bears a lot of sonic similarity to his peers (or offspring?): the tight robo-rhythms of QotSA are all over the album, and his vocals on “Worm in the Silk” bear a striking resemblance to Mark Lanegan. But Masters of Reality’s fingerprints are recognizable. The band manage to distill a lot of influences into one appealing mixture, ranging from garage rock snottiness (the riff that anchors “Up in It” or the dirty boogie of “Dreamtime Stomp“) to dub reggae (the intro to “Worm in the Silk”) to big, Beatle-esque choruses (“Rosie’s Presence” and especially “Testify to Love”). But instead of a self-conscious attempt to shake things up, it all just sounds like Goss is having things go according to plan. Pine/Cross Dover is both a journey into a man’s record collection and his head. It’s fascinating and fun either way.

While not cloying or cutesy, the album manages to be immensely charming. Even 14-minute meandering instrumental closer “Alfalfa” doesn’t wear out its welcome when consuming the record as a whole. Like batshit insane convicted murder Phil Spector, Goss appears to be crafting little symphonies for the kids, densely constructing monuments to the past on top of stoner rock’s able frame. Pine/Cross Dover is a record of one great song after another, consumed equally well in parts of as a whole. Is it hazy stoner metal? Fuck no. There’s a (fucking awesome) new Electric Wizard album for that. While Masters of Reality do throw the occasional bone to metalheads (the grimacing riff at the core of “Absinthe Jim and Me” stands out in particular), they’re just a pretty great rock band. No red-eyed sludgecore necessary. After all, Black Sabbath were into the Beatles as much as horror movies.

PINE/CROSS DOVER: MASTERS OF REALITY’S GLORIOUS NOISEPINE/CROSS DOVER: MASTERS OF REALITY’S GLORIOUS NOISEPINE/CROSS DOVER: MASTERS OF REALITY’S GLORIOUS NOISEPINE/CROSS DOVER: MASTERS OF REALITY’S GLORIOUS NOISE

(4 out of 5 horns)

-SO

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