Published on Apr 22, 2003
When considering the music credentials of the members of the
Atomic Bitchwax, there’s little room left for debating that the
band carries the goods to be heralded as one of the forerunners of
the “stoner rock” movement. With the band’s first two albums,
inconspicuously titled
Atomic Bitchwax and
Atomic Bitchwax II, being received with generally wide
acclaim, guitarist Ed Mundell of Monster Magnet fame, bassist Chris
Koznik (ex-Godspeed), and drummer Keith Ackerman found themselves
releasing what normally would be considered an EP of sorts with
their seven-song effort
Spit Blood.
In fact, this effort is more of a hodge-podge of tracks that are
now being given the light of day. One AC/DC cover song, one jam
from a previous album that has an alternate close, three new
tracks, and two dusted-off songs from 1996 form the guts of this
release.
The liner notes mention that the band only performs the AC/DC
cover (“Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap”) live when they can summon a
“guest singer with balls” to perform the vocals. This should give
you a good impression of how crappy the song sounds as the lead
track on this album. There’s absolutely nothing revolutionary to
say about the Bitchwax’s version as all of the original
arrangements of the song remain intact; the vocals are simply
horrid.
“Liquor Queen” is an alternate version of the track that
appeared on
Atomic Bitchwax II. The
Spit Blood take is a groovy little number, highly
synthesized in the opening, that maintains the same overall pace
and sonic diversity of the previously released version. While
devoid of lyrics, the song is a scorching jam session, suggesting
nothing more for the listener to do other than buckle up for the
ride.
When studying the new tracks, I’m moved to say the song “Cold
Day in Hell” is imminently forgettable with its repetitive loops
until the last minute or so when the song is fused with the
spaced-out warble of Mundell’s guitar riffing. It’s the cosmic
sound where the Atomic Bitchwax are at their distinctive best. The
title track is a spacy effort that has the band experimenting with
sounds culminating in a nod to a late 1960’s-era drone of
psychedelia. The common thread that can be associated with all
three of the new songs on
Spit Blood are that the jams are much slower and drawn out
than nearly all of the tracks on the first two Atomic Bitchwax
albums. You could call it stoner rock relying on the blues to guide
one through the night, or you could just say the Atomic Bitchwax’s
performance of these tunes is far less exciting than their previous
work.
The other two tracks, “Black Trans-Am” and the funk-style “U
Want I Should,” are songs recorded from the early Atomic Bitchwax
era that muscle their way through the album with the stoned-out
80’s vibe that essentially spawned the whole stoner rock movement.
While the two songs have undergone re-mixing since they were first
recorded, they remain distinctive.
This “vault” style release captures each period of time leading
up to the band’s previous studio releases, incorporating the
varying styles in a mix-n’-match way. The end result is a bumpy
listening experience. It’s worth noting that Ed Mundell quit the
band just weeks before the album’s official release; I can’t help
but wonder if the events leading up to Mundell’s departure allowed
for the album to be constructed in such a sloppy way. A possible
saving grace to this whole mess is that Meteorcity kicks in a
sampler CD disc of other bands tracks from the stoner scene. The
sampler helps make up for the some of the deficiencies that
eventually drown
Spit Blood.
Spit Blood should be remembered for what it is and that is
nothing more than a “cleaning of the closet” of material most
suited for die-hard Atomic Bitchwax fans. Given that the album’s
best song can be found elsewhere in their library, that’s probably
where you should focus your attention.