Howl – Full of Hell

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Relapse Records
Produced by Howl & Keith Souza

No matter how many different subgenres heavy metal branches into, at its core, it will always be about one thing and one thing only: The Almighty Riff. No matter what else bands use to dress up their sound, true greatness can almost always be traced back to understanding and respecting The Riff. Plenty of musicians can write a great riff and still fail to become great, but no great band has ever gotten that way without great riffs.

If we accept all that to be true, then Providence, RI’s Howl must be well on their way to the pantheon of heavy metal greatness. When listening to their debut LP, Full of Hell, it’s impossible to overstate what a profound understanding they have of The Riff. Every song is stuffed – almost overstuffed at times – with catchy, heavy, memorable riffs. Like a heavier Torche, a cleaner High On Fire, and a somewhat less progressive Mastodon rolled into one band, this quartet storms into every song with the sole intention of getting heads to bang.

They’re not peerless in this respect, but what sets them apart is their incredible habit for actually succeeding. Opener Horns of Steel wastes no time getting the ass-kicking started, with – you guessed it – a fantastic riff at its start. Two nine-minute tracks, You Jackals Beware and The Day of Rest, sacrifice no riff strength in expanding the band’s sound to the epic. Even Asherah, a one-minute interlude, foregoes the cliché temptation of being orchestral or acoustic and is actually just another riff, glued to the front end of the crushing Jezebel.

Howl’s scene (stoner/sludge/doom/revival, whatever it is) is becoming increasingly saturated and it can be difficult to welcome a new band with open arms, but any album with execution this flawless deserves to be noticed.

“ what a profound understanding they have of The Riff ”

Tracklist: Horns of Steel / You Jackals Beware / Gods In Broken Men / Asherah / Jezebel / Heavenless / The Scorpion’s Last Sting / Parish of The Obscene / The Day of Rest

Written by Brad Sanders
More: 2010, Albums, Stoner, Howl