The Workhorse Movement slam out gritty jams with raspy rap styled lyrical dictation on this, their Roadrunner Debut. Down home and dirty, the bands music has an almost down south quality to it with obvious influences stemming from more classic late 70's rock acts. There's elements of funk, soul, reggae and nu metal along with injections of Sabbath and Zeppelin to give everything a rustic feel. Think James Brown meets Clutch while smoking dope listening to some hip hop as a possible description that could try and sum up this CD. Coarse vocals haul the bands sludgy music through the mud kicking and screaming all the way, sometimes coming off kind of sounding like Ted Nugent busting a freestyle and at others rocking through hooky choruses with the grace of Lynyrd Skynyrd and the cavalier energy of Clutch. One part modern and two parts 70's rock and funk, the group proudly trudge over their sonic creations leading the music forward with a haphazard swagger. Guitars lunge forward with grimy scraping tones and traditional roots riffage, definitely influenced more by the older generation rather than the newer crop of bands, some interesting notes and chords are strummed out with a seemingly offbeat nature that sounds a bit sloppy yet works quite well with the bands careless roughhousing nature. Bass is smooth and downtuned, although not necessarily clean toned it hums through the tracks with slides and guitar reinforcing basslines that sustain the groove and keep the head bobbing. Drums crash and bang with surly beats that jab out a hearty dirty jazz styled flow. Slightly brash yet always on point, they pound out intelligent patterns and add greatly to the overall down scaled ragged heady mood that saturates the bands music. In a nutshell, as the title suggests, this disc is almost a tribute to the music of our forefathers, making it somewhat of a concept album as each song takes on a decidedly different inspiration and plays it through with uncompromising ideals. They aren't making this record to get on TV or score a radio hit, instead it's a creative expression and that alone deserves merit, but as charming as it is, with such a loose style there's bound to be snags along the way. Perhaps the most notable of which would be the semi schizophrenic nature of the CD, there's an underlying structure that does connect each track, but each song's tendencies to be stylistically different in contrast to the last can really strain the cohesiveness of the albums progression. Although at first most people will probably write the band off as a Clutch clone, a few listens will begin to show the deeper layers and focus of the band and what they are trying to achieve with this record. The Workhorse Movement aren't going to completely annihilate anyone away with their hybrid of stoner metal meets the classics, but they are indeed a welcome addition to the derivative pack of bands ruling the airwaves. It's no easy feat to incorporate the old and the new into a comfortable platform, but its a feat this band comes quite close to accomplishing on this disc and for that they deserve their due, so sit back pull out the bong, drink a beer and relax to the comfortable grooves the Movement creates, because it definitely won't be appreciated by the conservative crowd.
(4 / 5)