Review : BLACK TUSK – “Taste The Sin”

Black Tusk - Taste The Sin
released May 25, 2010 on Relapse Records

Hailing from Savannah, Georgia, Black Tusk is a 3-piece band and their sound is described as swamp metal. I have seen them compared to bands such as Baroness, Kylesa and Eyehategod, among others. The cover art was contributed by John Baizley of Baroness.

At just under 35 minutes long, you might think that each song blows by without leaving much of an impact. You’d be wrong there. The songs “Snake Charmer” and “Unleash The Wrath” both have a slight doom metal feel to them a la Electric Wizard and others as well, even picking up a bit of Baroness (at least to my ears). Elements of sludge and punk exist in “Embrace The Madness” and “Red Eyes, Black Skies”.

I feel that “Way of Horse and Bow” is one of the strongest tracks, bringing together all of the influences into a track that has the punk intensity and in ways, is slightly reminiscent of Municipal Waste. Tracks 7 through 10 are actually four chapters known as “Double Clutchin” and as the song titles suggest, are there to sonically capture the act of double clutching in a drag race and the car nut in me can only dream of double-clutching a Dodge Charger. All four songs slowly fuse together, and if not for the profanity in the last track (which may be bleepable?), would work together if played back to back.

This is a fantastic album from an up-and-coming band who can only get better with time. While it’s easy to think that Black Tusk a clone or knock-off of similar bands from the same area, you’d be doing them a grave disservice if you didn’t listen to this album from start to finish. Taste The Sin is easily one of my picks for 2010.

FCC: 6, 10
Try: 2, *3*, *4*, 8, 9

01. Embrace the Madness
02. Snake Charmer
03. Red Eyes, Black Skies
04. Way of Horse and Bow
05. Unleash the Wrath
06. Twist the Knife

DOUBLE CLUTCHIN (In 4 Chapters)

07. Redline
08. The Take Off
09. The Ride
10. The Crash