1. Retake the GRE before applying for PhD programs
2. Don't quit playing basketball
3. Don't get annoyed when people say the music you like all sounds the same.
Go ahead and toss out 1 and 2 because who cares and then toss out 3 because whooooooo fuuuuuuucking caaaaaaares. The "every song sounds the same argument" comes from Phish fans and pop fans and all sorts of music fans who like music that sounds exactly identical to all of its iterations, and that's fine! It makes sense that bands have established sounds, and it makes sense that you'd like bands that sound like bands you like. Sure, diversify your otic consumption by all means, but let's have a little honesty with our sweet, sweet jams. (But, seriously, Phish fans, they stopped writing new music 30 years ago.)
Younger, angsty me and not-as-young-but-still-slightly-angsty me: just let it slide, man. It's a non-starter of an aesthetic discussion. It's a judgment so basic it comes with a mocha frappe wrapped in an Etsy-bought scarf. It just doesn't matter.
Just like it doesn't matter that Windhand and Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats both have new albums that don't really take any sonic risks. A (more) cynic(al person) might listen to each album and think, "Yes. That is what those bands sound like." It's not necessarily wrong, but it does sell short each record.
It's also fitting for me that both bands released new albums within a few weeks of one another, because I got into both bands at about the same exact time back in 2013. Windhand had just released Soma and that split with Cough - I ordered their self-titled tape around the same time, too. Uncle Acid released Mind Control sometime near then, and I fiiiinally gave in to Steven's demand to listen to them. I 100% refused to listen to Blood Lust when it first came out because of their god awful name. It's an unwieldy travesty of a name. I don't even know what half of the name is worse, but since I've taken to just calling them "Uncle Acid," I guess it's the second half; though, for the record, I think "Uncle Acid" is also a shitty band name.
Tragically bad name notwithstanding, both Mind Control and Soma were in heavy rotation by the end of 2013. Mind Control was a killer record for driving around Atlanta more or less impaired, and I could just flip the sides of Soma over and over in my room... more or less impaired. I don't remember if either record ended up in my Best Of 2013 list, but who gives a shit about that?
Windhand has always sounded like Electric Wizard, yet they've always avoided sounding redundant. Like, I always thought Electric Wizard was so monolithic that you didn't need another one, but then Windhand showed up and proved that they're absolutely needed to be another. I mean, if Eyehategod and Grief and Noothgrush could all co-exist at the same time, then why not Electric Wizard and Windhand? My working theory is that Windhand just stole Electric Wizard's powers, seeing as how EW has only released one album since 2010, Time to Die, and I don't even remember a single specific song on that album. If the next EW album is a return to form and Windhand stumbles on their next release, I'll take that as proof that I'm correct.
Uncle Acid's sound isn't a carbon copy of another band, but their influences are all over their music. Sabbath, Thin Lizzy, Pentagram, The Beatles, the occult, the 60s and 70s in general. None of its redundant or reductive, but it's not exactly genre-defying or genre-defining either.
So it doesn't really matter that Grief's Infernal Flower and The Night Creeper sound, well, like they're supposed to. Windhand's record is slightly mellower and almost feels catchy at times. Uncle Acid upped the cult 'n roll just enough to keep things moving. Windhand's a pleasant dirge-fest, with Dorthia's vocals floating over the dragging riffs in a way one might call soothing. Uncle Acid mixed in more 70s solos and freaked out the vocals a bit. At the moment, I actually might like both the new albums more than the previous efforts from both bands, but that could easily change a few months down the line once I go back and listen to Soma or Mind Control or any of the other releases.
Riffs and Spliffs
Doom, stoner rock, sludge, and all the mixing and matching within those subgenres have always produced unique bands. They've also always produced bands that want nothing more than to sound like those bands. As someone who's been a fan of those types of music for a majority of my life, I've never minded that fact. For the longest time, it seemed like you could count the bands from those genres on your fingers and toes. Queens of the Stone Age certainly changed things, bringing new interest to this particular sound, and, admittedly, those genres could be accused of being watered down (at least a few years ago, certainly), but, again, it never bothered me. Except Queens of the Stone Age. That band bothers me. Listen to Kyuss, poseurs. Just kidding. Do whatever you want.
One of those things you should do, though, is listen to these records. At the very least, you should listen to "Pusher Man" from The Night Creeper, because good goddamn, the audacity of it all.
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