Generous Maria

Electricism

Buzzville Records

I'm going to be writing this review basically as someone who's never heard Generous Maria before. I believe I have their split with Skua kicking around somewhere but obviously that didn't make too much of an impression on me at the time. Not to say that it isn't any good, just that I may not have been in the mood for it or any number of lame reasons I can come up with. Having said that I'm sure as hell going to revisit it after listening to their latest release Electricism. I also hear that this is a fairly big departure from their previous albums in that it's a lot more straight forward rock and not as much "stoner". Ok, enough with that shit and let's get to the point of this review.

Right off the bat they start at full speed and all cylinders blazing with The Chilling Effect. I tell ya, this song is worse that crack. The first time I played it I was hooked and their was no looking back. Get your own pipe man because I'm going to be sucking on this one for a long time. Simple but very effective drumming is overlayed with some sweet ass fuzzy guitars. Goran's unique vocals is outstanding and he has no problems keeping up with everyone else. This is pretty damn close to a perfect rock song.

Sheer Violence is next, and for me brings back some fond memories of the best that came out of the 80's. Not that it's blatantly obvious but probably has something to do with me seeing them play a packed arena and rocking the fuck out. It's not quite up there with The Chilling Effect in the drink 'till you puke kind of song but still delivers.

The one song that I think will polarize their listeners is the cover of ZZ Tops - Precious And Grace. I'll go on a limb here and declare that Precious is ZZ Tops best song period. Yup, you heard it alright....that was my foot dropping. No more room for discussion. So I was kind of concerned when I saw this cover. I know some will love it and some will hate it. Mostly because they really do put their own spin on it and since it's not a true to form cover, it will probably piss a few people off. Fuck 'em I say because I'm really liking it. I mean, who can argue with the pure bliss that emotes from those chunky guitars and heartfelt vocal delivery. Yeah, that's what I thought.

Before this review gets too long I'm going to end it with another devastatingly good song. That being Bootlicker. Yeah baby, we're running on airplane fuel now. Dynamically it's quite a bit different from Chilling Effect but rocks just as hard. Dual guitars driving the rhythm along with the bass and Mats going ape shit on the drums. Goran once again does an amazing job on the vocals, covering a lot more range than in previous songs. I'd love to be able to describe his singing style properly but the words escape me. A bit gruff, but oddly enough has a real clarity to it that I'm really enjoying. Just fucking stellar.

In one respect I'm afraid of playing this cd too often. Mostly because I always have a urge to turn up the volume and I don't know how much more my stereo can take. Of course not all the songs can live up to the ones I've reviewed. Then again there are songs that are just as good that I haven't even touched (All Wrong Alright for example). So for anyone who misses good old days of rock and roll that almost necessitates consuming large quantities of alcohol (among other things) than this should be your next purchase. Right from the get go this cd had me by the balls and I think my girlfriend is getting a bit jealous.

Rating: 8.8

Reviewed By: David Wilner