Dead Meadow - Feathers

Genre metal Publisher Matador Records External Links Official Site Matador

D.C. slow metal foursome, Dead Meadow, jump right into their fourth album with big dull heavy metal bars that drone heavily into whipped up psychedelic riffs. Drop the dry ice into the bucket and watch the fog rise off the dense army-of-darkness guitar build.

Though Feathers, gets off to a slow start, with a lot of heavy metal machine music that sounds about as passionate as a band of pre-programmed space robots, it does even out eventually and starts to take form about three songs in.

Lead singer Jason Simon's lyrical dungeons and dragons vocals never really come into focus behind his lead battleaxe riffs and spacey freak-outs. Some bands are all about the vocals and some bands are all about the music, and Dead Meadow is all about the music.

The definitive track on Feathers is the epic "Eyeless Gaze All Eye/Don't Tell The Riverman." It carries an intricate classic Sabbath meets Zeppelin meets My Morning Jacket feel. At one point in the song I'm rooting for Jim James of MMJ to come in and start bellowing out the vocals, sadly that doesn't happen. However, Jason Simon's words float over the song eerily enough to make this the standout song on Feathers.

"Stacey's Song" and "Let It Pass" are both classic space-out jams that serve well enough on "Feathers," to keep things interesting. The major misstep on the album is the two-minute drum solo on "Through The Gates Of The Sleepy Silver Door." It really serves no purpose and should have been left on the cutting room floor.

Dead Meadow close out Feathers by having a little fun with a long metal jam that's heavy enough to raise the dead. Overall, Dead Meadow's Feathers sparks brilliantly in some spots, but burns dully in others.