Defcon 4 – The Bad Road Review by Mirza Gazic (StonerRock.com) Supernova Records Release date: 2007
Playing metal with heavy sludge influences will inevitably bring comparisons to a certain seminal New Orleans band - slow, grimy music ridden with misery and frustration. This Boston group definitely invokes them, particularly the first part. The singer almost brings Mike William’s sick vocals to mind but doesn’t quite have as much of his bile spewing wretchedness and anger. He does still bring enough to make their sophomore album the uneasy listening experience that it should be. The Bad Road consists in large parts of torturous sludge but also has a few unexpected twists, like the jarring, angular noise rock of bands like Botch and the legendary Unsane, along with a few nods to their label chief’s own band, Today is the Day.
The album is split into four acts, each with several different titles, and over 22 minutes Defcon 4 venture effortlessly from each s t y l e in each segment. After the first act’s slow, doomy section, they venture into strange rhythmic drumming that is at first a tad disorientating, especially after the simplistic initial sludge groove, but once you get used to it, the section blends in very well and there is no doubt about the skill here. All the s t y l es that are blended into this brief album seem to be there for a reason, from the hardcore punk speed and the rock ’n’ roll guitar shredding in “Act II…” to the off-kilter rhythms interspersed throughout the album.
Those into this kind of music will now that it’s not to be listened to at the wrong time, since The Bad Road definitely does not carry any feel good elements. Even the guitar carries a certain dissonant and sombre tone, but you could do worse then adding Defcon 4 to your collection.
