After the cloudy-headed bong blast of 2005's Feathers,
Dead
Meadow comes through relatively clear (though not quite as loud) on Old Growth.
The
overpowering contact buzz of the L.A. psych-rockers' previous work has
subsided, resulting in highs that are more pleasant than pulverizing this time
around. At times, Dead Meadow sounds like a heavier Brian Jonestown Massacre,
toning down the stoner-metal riffs of old in favor of languid, vaguely bluesy
slow-burners like "What Needs Must Be" and "The Great Deceiver." The light,
almost country-rock jangle of "I'm Gone" is a peek at Dead Meadow's
underutilized pop side, while "Seven Seers" suggests that the band can strum
hypnotic, Eastern-tinged folk as it well as it pounds hypnotic, Sabbath-style
riffs. For the most part, though, Dead Meadow doesn't stray too far from its
weed-rock comfort zone, and by the album's end, all the mid-tempo guitar shuffles
blur together and dissolve like exhaled smoke. But in spite of some indistinct songwriting,
Old Growth on
the whole still has the power to alter minds, musically or otherwise.