U.S. Christmas

From Crucial Blast Records - The first "real" CD release from this North Carolina band comes to us circuitousy from the generally-baffling Russian label R.A.I.G., whose previous releases from artists like Womba, Mux, and Won James Won have been mappings of strange electronica/noise/spazz-rock terrain, all of which I have grooved on mightily over the past year, but it is a little odd to get introduced to an American psych-metal band through 'em. On the other hand, U.S. Christmas' Salt the Wound does fit in nicely next to those two Seven That Spells albums that R.A.I.G. issued, which makes a statement about the imprint's excellent taste in cosmic rock heaviness. Taking their name from an obscure Sam Peckinpah film reference, this quintet hails from Marion, a small town nestled in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in western North Carolina, where they have concocted a ragged, burly brand of modern psychedelia over the course of two self-released CD-Rs; for their first "real" album, the band has taken material from their previous discs and reworked/rearranged/re-recorded them into Salt The Wound, with a sound that combines classic 70's psych rock, Caustic Resin, Neurosis like dirge, gooey sludge metal, blues and early country music, Hawkwind style spacerock explorations, and the expansive fire rock of late 70's Neil Young & Crazy Horse. Quite a heady mix, but Salt The Wound ties these influences and stylings together with a righteously loose energy as the band works out extended riff feasts littered with spacey theremin strains and some of the coolest molten synthesizer woosh this side of Comets On Fire, resulting in 10 jams of awesome life affirming heaviness. At just over an hour long, the band keeps it dynamic and ever changing as they move from the moving, distortion-caked country/space rock sludge of 'Lazarus' to 'Death By Horses' awesome motorik rush, the doomed cosmic boogie of 'Devil's Flower' and 'Thin The Herd''s instrumental Southern rock. Trippy, rocking, crushing, this is a stellar first album from U.S. Christmas, presented in a gatefold sleeve with great artwork by Victor Pushkin. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. •••••••••••••••••••• •••••••••••••••••••• •••••••••••••••••••• •••••••••••••••••••• •••••••••••••••••••• • U.S. CHRISTMAS – “Bad Heart Bull” CD ’05 (Nomass, US) – I remember reading about these North Carolina guys before I got their CD and noted that they hated the term “stoner rock.” I liked the sentiment, at least, because good ol’ “stoner” is just another genre that’s gotten bloated by mediocrity. Now hearing “Bad Heart Bull,” it’s way more than just a sentiment. U.S. CHRISTMAS, you see, are miles from stoner rock. Stoner rock is in a big glitzy record store in a mall somewhere in a N.C. city like Charlotte. U.S. CHRISTMAS are way outside the mall. You’d have to go down the interstate & take the exit farthest out of town. Then you’d go 40 or 50 miles down a 2-lane road & veer off on a barely marked set of dirt tire tracks with weeds growing up between ‘em. Then you’d need to get in an old pick-up with a column stick shift and trundle 10 miles further into the woods to get to the place where music this vital & dangerous comes from. This, my friends, is the stuff of darkness, but of real human darkness. If Paul Chain was from the American South, this is the kind of music he’d make. The album opens with the acoustic-laden title track but it’s not peaches & cream. This is a stark, raw-nerve portal into the depths of caustic heaviness that explodes in “New War.” If Tony Iommi and Neil Young emerged together from a swamp in 1971, they’d have brought this with them. And, this alternating light & shade continues through “Gallows Humor,” “Black Snake,” “Walk Under” & “Lazarus” then emptying, sludge-like, into the boiling “Thin The Herd.” Finally, everything is paradoxically tied together & blown apart by the 12-minute descent into chaos that is “Bad Heart Bull II.” Stoner rock, my ass, there isn’t a genre that can hold a beast like this. - Ray Dorsey/Chaos Realm