The Powder Room - Curtains

Label: Cohosh
Year: 2015

Athens, Georgia will always have an underbelly of heavy bands that lurk from dark club to dark house show, to dark bar bludgeoning those locals who want some respite from the fey indie rock, fey faux psychedelia, or worse yet, the very real college football. These bands usually operate out of the kitchens   around town cooking your brunch before fucking off to band practice and preparing a new batch of lumbering thud rock.
The Powder Room fits right into that lineage, hell, they're even recorded by Kyle Spence of the ultimate Athens underbelly dwellers Harvey Milk. They pull from that same well of late 80's and early 90's noise and sludge that beget heavy hitters of yesteryear, but they do so in a way that eschews pandering in favor of harnessing that hulking rumble into their own take on loudness.
The bottom end and drums are down low in the gutter where it should be, deep and mean. The guitar is a warm, solid punch to the gut with occasional flourishes of shimmering respite. And the vocals strike that perfect balance of gritty bellow with tuneful…rasp.
If you remember another old Athens band Pride Parade, that's a good comparison. There was an Atlanta band All That Saints that I can hear in this mix as well. At times you can catch some of the straight whallup of Atlanta compatriots Whores, that pounding lockstep of guitar bass and drums coming straight for your neck. But for those outside the piedmont region of Georgia, maybe I can come up with more widely known touchstones? Ummm…how about Burning Brides, Fudge Tunnel, Crawlpappy, Loudspeaker, Nirvana, middle period Harvey Milk, (some) Melvins, and (some) Tad? Yeah?
Look, bottom line, this one is absolutely essential. I give it my highest recommendation. The vinyl version came out early this year, and you should MOST definitely track it down from Cohosh Records.
No joke.

DL