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Band Name: Powerhead
Demo Title: Shadow of the Thunderchief Band Members: Anthony Keena - Guitars, Vocals; Paul Corben - Drums; Charlie Holmes - Bass, Vocals (with additional musicians Angus Mackay, Benny Cairns and Jeff Cripps) Location: Enmore NSW Australia Rating: 3 Skulls
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Redwolff's Review:
Powerhead are three guys in their early 30's from Australia who, despite their horrifying gray-on-gray, center aligned website, ooze experience and professionalism. Charlie Holmes did a very nice job on both the artwork and layout of the CD liner (I'll assume he was not available at the time the website was being designed) as well as the input he had on several of the songs, along with Messrs. Corben and Keena. They've issued a number of demos and play out quite a bit locally.Powerhead play a solid mix of rockabilly and stoner rock (stonerbilly?) that is tight and groove-laden, with horns to spice things up a bit. It's a nice touch, and unexpected in a primarily stoner rock album. However, this is not a metal album, it just doesn't have either the energy or the heaviness to push it from "decent background rock music" to "I gotta go see these guys!" With the crazy cover art I was really expecting something a bit more raw and aggressive than this. The clean production adequately showcases each instrument and the vocals, with a good balance between all, but also smoothes over any edge the band might have live. Otherwise interesting compositions occasionally get bogged down with overly repetitive guitar riffs, adding a touch of tedium to my listening experience. Thankfully, the CD is only six tracks long, giving me enough of a taste of the band's considerable talent before crushing my head with boredom.
These guys seem to have a lot going for them: they are all apt musicians, play well together and from their pictures they look like they're having fun with what they're doing. So maybe they are happy with their current lot, but if they want to make it big they need to inject some more excitement into their music (at least the studio version). For now, I would have to classify them as "stoner lite" - enjoyable but not required listening.
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