It’s been a long time brewing in the meth lab, we have not heard from musical chemists Drug Honkey since 2012 when they released last album ‘Ghost In The Fire.’ The Illinois based band have always been interesting and I have been following their dealings since first hearing them back on their Dub Death album of 2008. There was a certain amount of notoriety around their past line-up due to them having Scag Honkey in their ranks, better known as Blake Judd, well he certainly lived up to his name and in fact the first couple of songs here ‘Pool Of Failure’ and ‘Sickening Wasteoid’ could almost be written about him. I don’t want to jump to conclusions though, but….
This is dense, nasty and filth ridden stuff and is likely to knock you out and have you throwing a whitey like the first time you took a drag on some potent skunk. Mind you that is child’s play to this lot, it’s class A all the way here and like certain bands that play black metal and really walk the Satanic path rather than doing it all for show we are well aware listening to this that Drug Honkey know their pharmaceuticals intimately. The aforementioned first track roars in and sluggishly overpowers with a feeling like you have taken a hit of some strong opioid and your legs are on point of collapse. Slide to the floor with the sludge laden, tar like crawl of it and let the ugly vocal clamour overpower as you throw up in your own lap. Drugs are bad m’kay! The whole album is centred on thuggish ballast and slow stomping hatred, don’t go expecting an amphetamine high from it but do be prepared for sudden disruptive charges and bursts of all out antagonism. I would hate to be this lots supplier, they must be tough work and when they run out I certainly wouldn’t like to be in the same room as them. There’s an electronic coating to the second number and it is not a million miles away from the sort of stuff we might hear from bands such as Corrections House and Mirrors Of Psychic Warfare, and the slowest Scarecrow stealth of a band like Ministry as it all washes over in a narcotic fug. Tracks are fairly long and allowed to breathe, there’s no quick fix or indeed escape from their clutches. Effects are put on the Honkey Head’s vocals which see them gurgling like rancid spew coming up from the throat on ‘Outlet Of Hatred.’ Instrumentation is skewed at times on it with some disorientating sounds coming up from beneath the main monotonous slow drum-beat. There’s a feeling of coming down sickness about it and the whole experience is suitably wretched.
After being comfortably numbed and abruptly shaken and roused by ‘(It’s Not) The Way’ the monolithic void of ‘The Oblivion Of An Opiate Nod’ does exactly as described over a 10 minute musical fever dream. Nightmares definitely lurk within as guttural roars rise from the depths like a great leviathan and gloomy guitar lines sinisterly twist along with abrasive fizzy bursts of energy. Some of the melody once it opens out reminds a little of Jesu and that’s not a huge surprise when you consider that there is a JKB mix of the opening song at the end of the album either; the initials should speak for themselves. Before we get to that there’s the title track to experience with some saxophone heroin blues to it and a serious feeling of unreality, are we tripping out? Maybe but it has to be said it’s not the worse experience in the world and as harsh and ugly as the sonic palate is it’s also quite beautiful; kind of like being back in the womb man! Drug Honkey, an interesting journey to the other side of reality but be careful you don’t overdose on them.
(8/10 Pete Woods)
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