MEAN GREEN - Castle review

 

MEAN GREEN - Castle

Self Release

So here we have the second full length by North Carolina's MEAN GREEN. Personally I like the band name. They're a three piece Sludge Metal / Stoner Doom act from Boone, North Carolina. Just for the record Boone, NC is known for a few things. First off it's in the Western part of the state where the Blue Ridge Mountains are. Appalachian State University is out there also known as App - State. Graduates from there are also called Boone Hippies. But hey years ago their football team beat Michigan which was a major upset. 

Anyways when it comes to Sludge Metal / Stoner Rock, North Carolina (aka: my state) has had it's share of great bands in this genre. Just to name a few there's been SOUL PREACHER, WEEDEATER, BONGZILLA and a few more. Some people like to say BUZZ-OVEN are an NC band but honestly they moved around from NC to Virginia, to Louisiana and back again depending on the drugs available and people they screwed over because of it. CORROSION OF CONFORMITY were never a Sludge Metal or a Doom band despite what revisionists (who never lived in NC) say on the internet. 

With that all said MEAN GREEN on this release will not get any old school fans to jump up and shout as saviors of a genre in need of help. They're all burned out anyways and maybe will show up at a EYE HATE GOD reunion show long enough to buy a new shirt and call an Uber to get em home before eleven PM.

But to new school fans it could be different. I'm sure MEAN GREEN has been playing to audiences who drink Michelob Ultra and swear to WIDESPREAD PANIC. Musically I'm not down with their whole psycho Sludge stuff early on this release. Better yet I like when they go into their Stoner atmosphere Metal style. I'm not gonna name drop. Instead I'll just say the sound reminds me of cool stuff by past acts I already like. 

Add to that the quality of the musicians involved. The cool bass lines from Cole Franklin are totally head banging. James Matthews is an amazing drummer. Finally there's Jake Helms who delivers a thick, sick guitar tone. The same thing can be said for his vocals. The guy produces a blackened venomous singing tone which is cool in my book. 

Like I slightly mentioned earlier MEAN GREEN are probably a perfect example of a new school bringing life and excitement to an old worn out genre. In so doing they bring in new fans who probably didn't know this type of extreme metal existed. To me that's cool and I give this band props for it. In all honesty I'd rather sit home and blast this then go downtown and see WEEDEATER for the tenth time. Nuff Said!

 

LISTEN TO AND BUY IT HERE:

https://meangreen.bandcamp.com/album/castle