HANGNAIL
Clouds In The Head
The Music Cartel

This is one of the best CDs I've heard from a new "stoner" metal band since Orange Goblin. This London based band features the amazing vocal talents of Harry Amrstrong (guitars/vox), who has the raw power sounding reminiscent to Chris Cornell in the Loud Love days. And at other times he reminds me of Eric Wagner from Trouble. The Music Cartel is one of the best new metal labels to come across in recent years, especially when it comes to stoner rock/metal. With awesome artists such as Clawfinger, Orange Goblin, and now Hangnail-it's apparent that this is not your typical, trendy, money-hungry rap/rock/grind-core label, this label obviously knows good talent when they hear it.

Although Hangnail will likely be lumped into the "stoner-rock" category, they are a helluva lot more diverse and talented than 90% of the bands in this genre. Lot's of classic early '70s metal is displayed here-great melodies, mega-heavy riffs, catchy hooks and awesome vocals highlight this ten song CD. Pretty much every tune on this record kicks ass, from the opener "Slowhead," through "Release" (great classic metal!), right to the end with the acid-power ballad "The Watcher" (with a Sab influenced "Cornucopia" riff) to the closer "Riffmeister Jesus." Great '70s guitar riffs sounding like Iommi meets Nugent, but with a rich, modern production similar to Monster Magnet (but much heavier.) Unlike the majority of stoner rock/doom-metal bands who basically regurgitate old Sabbath riffs, Hangnail actually write great classic metal tunes. Hangnail definitely lead the pack in this genre of music. This is the real shit folks!

MARK D
The Silent Treatment
TeePee Records

Former Melvin Mark D ventures out on his own with an intensifying debut CD entitled The Silent Treatment. Mark D can best be described as a heavy metal Beck. This CD is incredibly unique, but not so out-there that it loses it's focus. Finally a stoner rock band that doesn't merely recite Black Sabbath, Mark D definitely leans more toward the Pink Floyd spectre. In fact, Mark D takes over where Syd Barret left off! Very cool production as well, the analog sound suits the music perfectly, which is very atmospheric (if you listen closely, you can hear all sorts of different percussion and instrumentation in each speaker.)

The opening track is a bizarre industrial, instrumental mudball, sounding like a soundtrack to Eraserhead! Then track two kicks in, a real ass-kicker called "The Hobnail Paisley." Really creatively bizarre tunes follow, like "One Thousand Delights," a cool-60's-ish acid tune, and "Coffinmakers Complaint" which is a trippy instrumental with (what sounds like) monks chanting in the background. Truly bizarre...truly unique. The following track "Fat Hamlet" is equally bizarre. It sounds like Pink Floyd drowning in a yellow submarine. I'm not sure if this guy is a total freak or a musical genius. Mark D is totally diverse as well, out of nowhere he throws in a late '50s-sh pop song "Gateau D'Amour" and then follows it up with "Van Diemen's Land," which sounds like The Beatles meet Mountain meet Faith No More. Sixteen songs in all, and every one is uniquely different. Very, very experimental music here, not for the traditional metal fan. Mark D's music may be too damn weird for the commercial market, but this guy will surely go down as an underground phenomenon!

Shockwaves CD Reviews Issue 4 Page 11