Press
7/4/2005
I first heard Motherboar a couple of weeks ago at a live show in Boston. In that context, they came off as New England's version of midwestern sludge (Fistula, Jumbo's Killcrane, etc) – suffocating distortion, raspy vocals, and all out rage and despair.
On the three-song MotherDemo, some of that style remains, but it's overshadowed by a more-metal-than-you drive. "Terrordactyl" starts with a Mastodon-like frenzied bark, and then delves into the aforementioned sludge groove. And groove it does – especially at the tail end. "Now You Fear" relies on the strengths of Motorhead to get its point across, and "Put Your Knife" is notable for the classic metal twin guitar riffing.
With the manic drumming and somewhat technical playing, Motherboar will draw comparisons to Mastodon. But there's more to them under that metal veneer. And if they can dredge up more of the sludge, they'll be onto something even more impressive than the evil on this EP.
John Pegoraro