Review: Suplecs ‘Hymns Under A Blood Moon Sky’
When I first began really digging into stoner rock around the turn of the millennium, one of the first bands I really sank my teeth into was New Orleans stoner/groove trio Suplecs.
I purchased their debut album Wrestlin’ With My Lady Friend from the long-defunct All That’s Heavy and was immediately hooked. Released in 2000 on Frank Kozik’s (RIP) legendary Man’s Ruin, it quickly became a staple of my daily soundtrack.
Suplecs were one of the first New Orleans bands that I got super into, and albums like 2001’s Sad Songs… Better Days – easily one of my favorite albums of the early ‘00s – and 2005’s almost equally as Good Powtin’ On The Outside Pawty On The Inside were in near-constant rotation. The trio, Durel Yates (guitar/vocals), Danny Nick (bass/vocals), and Andrew Preen (drums) play a unique, groove-heavy, stoner-punk swing that can drift from crushing swamp riffage to spacey, drifting psychedelics.
The combo vocals of Yates and Nick were always Suplecs secret sauce. While they are not exactly harmonizing, nor doing the gang-shout thing, they settle into a unique combination of both. Couple that with a very keen sense of melody, they truly sound unlike anyone else. Although the band has not released a full-length since 2011’s Mad Oak Redoux, they never broke up as they continued to play regionally while writing music, but after fifteen years, Suplecs have now dropped their new record, Hymns Under A Blood Moon Sky, through Ripple Music and I’d be lying if I said this wasn’t one of my most anticipated releases of the year.
Opener, Got Nothing, instantly explodes out of the speakers, and when they briskly settle into the body of the track as Yates and Nick’s vocals kick in, it’s like the trio was stuck in suspended animation for the last fifteen years. This is classic Suplecs at their finest, and it is all here: the swing, the groove, the riffs, which are, of course, topped off with that killer, one-of-a-kind, dual vocals, and suddenly, all is right in the world.
Pentacle Star is a wicked, charging, fuzzy groover, propelled by Preen’s understated, punked-up, behind-the-beat swing. Next up is Yates’ awesome, yet despondent ode to his mother, I See You. The perfectly sequenced track features brilliant, melancholic lyrics and vocals along with straightforward yet powerful, fuzzy riffage and solid drumming accented with some single-note keyboard bangs.
The doomy swamp-crawl of Forest Of Fire follows suit. It is all at once menacing and crushing, yet utterly infectious due to those earworm dual vocals. It also boasts an unstoppable mid-section wherein the trio drop into a wicked groove, showcasing Nick and Preen’s symbiotic rhythmic cohesion and freeing up Yates to unfurl some vicious, yet tasteful shred.
the greasy, behind-the-beat groove, dirty NOLA shred, and killer dual vocals that even the most jaded stoner rocker could get behind…
Blackwater Rising is a mid-tempo groove-monster of the highest order, which, like opener Got Nothing, had me recalling vintage Suplecs. It particularly shines during the build-up as the song careens towards its thundering conclusion. Here, they deliver all the greasy, behind-the-beat groove, dirty NOLA shred, and killer dual vocals that even the most jaded stoner rocker could get behind.
Old Spanish Trail is a dreamy, floaty instrumental with amazing rhythmic swing and superb, spaced-out guitar noodling. It recalls another sublime instrumental, Cities Of The Dead from Powtin’ On The Outside…, and sets up the massive, crushing wallop of Damn These Pills. This monster is a lumbering, southern riff stomper of Herculean proportions. Adjectives like ‘heavy’ and ‘grooving’ do not do this low-slung colossus justice. I can practically see Suplecs playing this live with Nick and Yates simultaneously singing while doing their neck slides and stomping their feet to Preen’s Crescent City swing.
Mountain has a killer ZZ Top-esque main riff, both in tone and execution, that’s coupled with trippy, dual, soaring vocals, which provide some great, overcoming obstacles energy. Preen adds some slippery groove, complete with a cowbell during the outro. Hitting the home stretch, the trio conjure some wicked punk rock energy with the Black Flag-meets-southern sludge of 6$ Man, before immediately giving way to the driving, catchy, yet more downcast Heartless Bodies.
No Apologies follows which deftly balances some awesome, dirty riffing with more moving-forward vibes, as closer La Ti Da is a formidable, jaw-dropping exercise in lazy, heavy swing. Complete with horns, it’s like a southern stoner rock ending to a Jazz Funeral procession. It’s far and away one of the coolest songs you’ll hear all year, and it is the perfect, proverbial cherry on the top to bring the album to its conclusion.
Not surprisingly, I absolutely loved every second of Hymns Under A Blood Moon Sky. It’s stellar from start to finish, boasting groove and riffs for days. It is performed with real feeling by three musicians who’ve been making music together for well over two decades, truly knowing this culture like the back of their hands.
Suplecs always stood out from this regional scene as their dual vocal, punk-ed up, stoner groove stood out a bit from the region’s more venomous acts such as EyeHateGod, Goatwhore and Crowbar. Like many bands from this area, they proudly showcase their hometown pride, and here, they do so not only with every note but also on the album cover. The artwork depicts the pirate Jean Lafitte’s Blacksmith shop during the Battle of New Orleans in the War of 1812, painted by Danny Nick’s father, a famed Jackson Square artist.
Simply put, Hymns Under A Blood Moon Skyis a triumphant return from one of the genre’s true, old-school OG’s, and should find itself high on many year-end lists. I know it will be high on mine. Welcome back fellas.
Label: Ripple Music
Band Links: Facebook | Spotify | Instagram
Scribed by: Martin Williams
