Dunsmuir are a metal supergroup consisting of Vinny Appice of Black Sabbath (drums), Dave Bone of The Company Band (guitar), Brad Davis of Fu Manchu (bass), and Neil Fallon of Clutch (vocals). That should be all you need to know to buy their self-titled debut, but if not then knowing that the record is a concept album about a group of shipwreck survivors who struggle to stay alive against natural and supernatural forces should seal the deal. Again, what more do you need?
“Hung on the Rocks” begins the story of our doomed crew, and Bone’s guitar work cooks from the opening riff. Fallon sings, “When you’re hung on the rocks, do you stand by your captain or run ashore with the natives?” It seems a fitting lyric for someone frustrated with bumbling workplace management as well as someone freaking out as the ship goes down and “the chaplain is content to dance.”
“Our Only Master” (which, according to Fallon, is science) reminds us why Appice is one of the best metal drummers out there. Davis has a blast keeping up with him and Bone’s licks venture on the edge of stoner metal. The breakdown on it is fantastic. “The Bats (Are Hungry Tonight)” is great chugging metal, with Fallon’s vocals echoing off the back wall and Davis’ bass line charging through it.
“What Manner of Bliss” has some of Davis’ best bass work, and Bone sounds like he’s playing for an audience on the moon. Appice’s beats are simple but heavy. He doesn’t need to put in a lot of fancy fills because he doesn’t need them. He hits heavy and conveys power like the master of his craft that he is. “Deceiver” has our shipwrecked survivors lost in the supernatural as Fallon sings about the secrets of the universe and how such knowledge might be a terrible curse.
The survivors are off the deep end by the time we reach “…and Madness,” which has Bone apparently playing while someone sets his guitar on fire (judging by how hot the riffs are). Only Neil Fallon can sing a song like “Orb of Empire,” with lyrics of royal intrigue, magic, and dark societies. His vocal style is a perfect match to the band’s sledgehammering instrumentation. It’s the best metal song I’ve heard so far this year.
I love how “Church of the Tooth” starts out with slick and heavy stuff that sounds like, yes, Black Sabbath, and then Neil Fallon starts singing about iguanas, tortoises, crabs, and dark things at the bottom of the ocean. The band sinks into the Marianas Trench with a great finish of doom-metal sludge.
The remaining survivors are at the breaking point when we reach “The Gate,” as Fallon sings that his mind is about “to implode.” “Crawling Chaos” has Fallon reaching deep down for guttural vocals about the Old Ones and terrible things best left behind the veil that separates this world from a much darker one. The band plays like they’re trying to hold back or cause a volcanic eruption. I’m not sure which.
Dunsmuir is everything you want in a metal supergroup record. Again, the lineup alone should make you buy it. The two-ton weight heaviness of it is an added bonus.
Keep your mind open.
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