Only Metal (and rock ;) Music Matters _________________________________________________________________________ Artist : Big Oaf Album : Big Oaf Label : 2521304 Records DK Year : 2020 Genre : Metal Encoder : LAME Playtime : 41:07 Source : WEB Bitrate : 320 kbps Size : 100.2MB MB URL : Music Streaming Service _________________________________________________________________________ 1. Elephant 4:18 2. Chew 3:43 3. Shove 3:43 4. Nowhere 4:07 5. Tooth and Claw 4:28 6. Antswarm 3:25 7. G.H.T.S. 3:27 8. Never Learned 6:31 9. King of Town 3:44 10. Hangover 3:41 _________________________________________________________________________ Big Oaf - Big Oaf (New Full Album) Introducing Big Oaf from Atlanta, Georgia, the band with a name you just gotta love because it matches the stride of their swagger. Formed by brothers Crew Gibbs (guitar, vox) and Graham Gibbs (drums) in 2016, the pair were joined by bassist Matt Whiteside a year later. From there, the power trio went to work forging its sound in the fertile soil of the Atlanta heavy music scene, which has delivered no small share of wonders û from breakthrough and crossover acts like Mastodon, Black Tusk, Kylesa, Whores. and Royal Thunder, to savage undergrounders such as Zoroaster, Order of the Owl, Demonauta, GRUU, Sons of Tonatiuh, and Negative Wall. Big Oaf started life as a purely instrumental proposition, but as their songs evolved over several years of live performances, the trio decided adding vocals was the right choice. How right they were! One thing led to another and by early 2020 Big Oaf teamed up with recording engineer CJ Ridings to lay down some tracks. COVID-19 threatened to put a kink in the works, but the band persisted, wrapping up their eponymous record over the summer months. Opening track ôElephantö comes barreling through the gate like a crazed pachyderm on the lam, full of guts and glory. After traveling a pathway of atonal broken chords, everything grinds down to a mammothÆs pace, while the singer warns: ôyou ainÆt built for this kind / the elephant in the room.ö ôChewö follows, its opening riff is staunchly Sabbathesque, but takes on a melancholy turn. Crew Gibbs sings with plenty of heart, reminding me at times of King Buzzo, and with humor thatÆs just as dire: ôI told you IÆd eat you / you taste like a rat.ö Without missing a beat, Big Oaf lumber ahead with ôShove.ö I can almost picture some drug-addled drunk pushing his way into bars, stomping through clubs, getting into fights with randos, and generally becoming a belligerent pain in the rear as dusk turns to dawn. CrewÆs rough and rumble vocals greet us at the beginning of ôTooth and Claw,ö backed by a sawing riff that sears right into your noggin with surgical precision. The jamminÆ ôG.H.T.Sö rushes in next and by the time ôNever Learnedö cues up, weÆre connecting with our emotions û deep, red, and raw. The tempo increases midway through, amassing speed and power as it chugs along like a steam-driven locomotive with a mind of its own. Perhaps the secret to Big OafÆs appeal throughout the record is they donÆt stop. The massive assault comes off much like I imagine one of Big OafÆs live sets would, sans interruptions for tuning and the like. This is one to take with you to the gym. https://bigoaf.bandcamp.com/album/big-oaf _________________________________________________________________________ ... while we wait for retail to arrive ...