Primitive Ring

Three perennial RSTB faves, Bert Hoover (Hooveriii, Groop), Jon Modaff (Hooveriii, Groop), and Charles Moothart (Fuzz, GØGGS), came together a couple of years ago to forge a funnel of amp fury under the name Primitive Ring. The band drew from the smokestack of ‘70s fuzz, crushing out four 7”s on four different labels that brought to mind classic power trios like Budgie and Blue Cheer. As they crest into a proper album for In The Red, the band still serves up a dose of singe, but this is more than just an album of 80 mph riff n’ whiplash. The record digs into the band’s strengths, which definitely play into the acid bath of fuzz courtesy of Moothheart, but also into the prog prowess and pop dynamic behind Hooveriii, and the nimbleness that both Hoover and Modaff have fostered in Groop.

The album doesn’t blush in the first moments though, cracking through the cosmic egg with the kind of sonic sludge that’s fitting for an opener named “Fire and Brimstone.” The band’s love of ‘70s sternum-shakers from Leaf Hound to Sabbath remains a cornerstone of the album. Much like Sabbath, though, the band has more up their sleeves than just bluster, and as they open up the expanse of their eponymous LP, that ethos becomes evident. Under the smoke, there are sinewy riffs, Santana drum patter, and ice-cooled organs on “Paid – I Sold A Lie.” Further along, the band slips into a prog arc that feels shied away from in the early press for the album, but it’s a highlight of the record’s second side.

The smoke clears and the band finds a footing that’s tottering between Howlin’ Rain and The Raconteurs on highlight “Griefsong.” The cut pins power to acoustics, sparring strums with the electrics’ singe. The abrupt cut at the end jumps into the longform tangle of “Callous Man;” a creosote crusher with a deep prog heart. As the thunder rolls away over the hills of the 7+ minute centerpiece, Primitive Ring slides nicely into the album’s calmest point, the folk-inflected “Our Oblivion.” The arc shows off the band’s deeper love for their proto-metal moorings, tucking into bands that weren’t trying to out crush one another, but instead pulled from the cross-currents of popular music at the time, serving synthesis over heft. Come for the scorch, but stick around for Primitive Ring’s deeper understanding of the tug between light and dark.