Beehoover ‘Concrete Catalyst’ CD 2010

Beehoover 'Concrete Catalyst' CD 2010Hailing from Germany, this Teutonic duo of Ingmar Petersen (bass and vocals) and Claus-Peter Hamisch (drums and vocals) deal in far out experimental drum and bass and by that I don’t mean the repetitive washing machine on a spin cycle dance music variety.

I mean just drums and a bass…
…With a dual vocal attack.

Before you roll your eyes and think ‘Oh subjective deity’ here’s another pair of pretentious art house rockers who think that leaving out half the band will be clever and post modern, it is worth pointing out that Beehover couldn’t honestly give a bratwurst about opinions and operate with a freedom and a sense of enjoyment that comes from making music that makes them happy.

Fortunately that is about all the common ground they share with duet based navel gazers as the music on display here veers from the unhinged bluesy fuzz rock of ‘Oceanriver’ to the more wistful and considered musings of ‘Rocking Chair’. At times it sounds like a Pure Rock Fury era Clutch jamming with Jello Biafra as the call and response nature of the vocals bounce off insanely catchy grooves that are a triumph, given the stripped down nature of the band producing them.

‘Concrete Catalyst’ sees them take a hue leap forwards in terms of their approach to song writing. The previous release ‘Heavy Zoo’ back in 2008 was an accessible but angry slice of raw sonic distillation. On this release, the band has inhaled a big hit of stoner, prog and experimentation. Essentially Concrete Catalyst rips up the rule book with more than a measure of glee – daring you to pigeon hole them as they switch up and throw themselves head first in another direction.

The most striking feature of this album is just how big it sounds. There are anvil heavy riffs, pounding drums and huge heavy choruses. Then stop and consider there are two people who mixed and recorded this in 30 hours, by themselves and frankly a lot of heavy bands out there should be ashamed at taking years to produce something with Pro-Tools and an endless studio budget that still sounds crap.

Beehover are mad as a box of frogs and utterly oblivious to whether you approve of them, which may explain the love or hate them reaction they seem to attract, but I would suggest you check out this release for your own sake if you like the tones of Kyuss, the jarring experimentation of The Melvins and the stoner groove of Clutch. You won’t be disappointed.

Label: Exile On Mainstream Records
Website: www.beehoover.com

Scribed by: Mark Hunt-Bryden