Unida
Coping With The Urban Coyote
Man's Ruin Records
This Man’s Ruin release finds former Kyuss and Slo-Burn singer John Garcia fronting yet another crew of Southern California power mongers. Although comparisons to Kyuss are unavoidable (the bittersweet curse of any low-end, riff-heavy, desert rock band), Unida nixes the psychedelic trance and sticks to a healthy diet of straight-ahead sludge. Visiting the dusty outskirts of a classic wail, Garcia adds another chapter to his stoner rock legacy. A working man’s Ian Astbury, he commands the music of Unida, exhibiting a vocal presence that has grown since the halcyon years immersed in Kyuss’ sonic deluge. The band provides a worthy challenge, drawing out his growl in all its splendorous forms. Guitarist Arthur Seay’s mudslide-thick riffing and frenetic lead playing sounds a bit like Deliverance-era Corrosion of Conformity. The tenacious rhythm section of Dave Dinsmore and Miguel Cancino grips like a vise, wrestling the fierce combination of Garcia and Seay. At times, Dinsmore’s relentless thumps recall a young Geezer Butler plowing through Masters of Reality.
Of the eight tracks on Coping With The Urban Coyote, seven are molten nuggets of no-frills heaviness that represent the stripped down essence of Unida. The band is free from any notions of clouding their sound with electronica or tough guy posturing, letting gloriously heavy windmill-kicking jams relay the message. They catch fire right out of the gate on “Thorn,” a fist-pumping rocker that extracts its juice from a simple, penetrating guitar riff. “If Only Two” is a particularly skin-tingling romp. Garcia clearly pushes himself to the edge of the precipice, summoning up an otherworldly shriek that could put an end to lesser singers’ careers. He virtually shreds his vocal cords throughout the assault. “Nervous” is an old-fashioned desert throw-down powered by Cancino’s Bonham-sized whacks, Seay’s stop-motion scrape, Dinsmore’s fat, gurgling bass, and Garcia’s repetitive swagger.
A dense, creeping bass line introduces Coyote’s denouement — a sedate number entitled “You Wish.” Unida’s space caravan rambles through the heavens, dented but still pressing on after weathering a seven song meteor shower. Seay’s guitar sprays a fine mist of galactic ash from the tailpipe, as a subdued Cancino beats a steady course. Throughout the verse, Garcia traverses the higher registers like some alien sylph calmly reassuring us that the grand universe is “never ending and never surrendering.” But as we should have guessed, the meteors reappear in a massive barrage, leveling this peaceful jaunt. Garcia gives in to the carnage, revisiting his signature wail, as Seay colors the righteous outro with some melodic, reverb-laden noodling. The guys in Unida believe in the simple power of good, heavy, triumphant rock and realize that wrapped up in its sweaty euphoria is a fine place to be. As long as they keep hammering away on such tight, groove-laden jams, they won’t be able to hear the masses telling them that the thrill is gone.
D. Cullity
1. Thorn
2. Black Woman
3. Plastic
4. Human Tornado
5. If Only Two
6. Nervous
7. Dwarf It
8. You Wish