If you guys read this thing regularly, you’ll know that I’m a huge fan of Dave Davidson of Revocation. To me, he’s this generation’s version of Jeff Waters. He just a dude that has riffs and leads galore. So, when I heard he had joined up with some dudes from a band called Ayahuasca, I was pretty excited to see what they would come up with.
I find that a lot of times when dudes branch out to side projects there isn’t a lot of variation between the side project and the main gig. This is not one of those projects. Not only is the music on here completely different from the techno-neo-thrash death metal of Revocation, Davidson’s style of playing is just completely removed from the style he is known for. This album just further solidifies in my mind of what a genius Davidson is.
From the opening acapella track, you can tell that this one is going to be kind of different. My first listen through I was kind of struck by a modern post-Layne Staley Alice in Chains vibe running through the thing. Vocalist Luke Roberts has a bit of a William Duvall croon. However, the sound is not quite as caustic or bleak as a lot of AIC material was. There’s also a bit of modern era Opeth running through here. I guess the best way to describe this thing is a modern sounding progressive grunge album. It’s a very different and very original album. I can’t say that it has completely gotten it’s hooks firmly in me, but I do really dig what they are attempting on this debut. I look forward to spending some more time with it in the hopes of it growing on me more and more.
3.5 flip flops out of 5
