Review: This Summit Fever ‘This Summit Fever’
I’ve always been a fan of, and fascinated by, the idea of the two-piece rock band. From the commercial, garage-blues of The White Stripes and The Black Keys, to underground heavy bands like Year Of The Cobra, Big Business, and Telekinetic Yeti.
I’m always up for a new rock brace, as on the outside, it seems simultaneously easier, yet more difficult, when creating music with only one other person.
With that, I’d heard plenty of internet buzz about This Summit Fever, a new fuzz rock duo out of the Midlands, UK, and was excited to dive into their self-titled debut released through Majestic Mountain Records. The pair, Andrew Blackburn on guitar, and vocals and James McSorley on drums, come out of the gate swinging with Breathe You In, a fuzz-drenched, riffy affair, with plenty of huge, epic drumming and catchy, slightly distorted vocals that have me calling back to early, Sub Pop-style grunge.
Next is the massive Currents, a crushing, rumbling yet spacey track wherein This Summit Fever deftly weave between trippy passages that build to mountain-moving riffage and wah-soaked leads. We barely have time to catch our breath before the rolling, fuzz-filled heft of the colossal yet utterly listenable and aptly named Hooks, as Blackburn not only once again recalls early grunge vocals, dare I mention Bleach-era Nirvana, but he unleashes one of the best, bouncing, dunga-dunga-dunga riffs I’ve heard all year.
Superfluous is another killer exercise in entwining the heavy and impossibly fuzzy with spacey and catchy as this track builds to some of the most awesome rumbling, crash and bash I’ve heard all year. The previously mentioned grunge early-Nirvana vibes re-appear on the quiet-loud dynamics of Voices. Partly To Blame then ups the tempo, recalling some of Fu Manchu’s raucous, fuzz-wielding, while again boasting all sorts of melodic, yet spacey and distorted movements throughout the verses.
a fuzz-drenched, riffy affair, with plenty of huge, epic drumming and catchy, slightly distorted vocals…
The penultimate Only Quietness initially hints at a cleaner guitar sound before Blackburn hits the fuzz pedal and This Summit Fever explode into a wall of riffs, distortion and crushing rhythms, taking the listener on an aural journey through all things heavy and back again, leading us into closer, the vast, grand, Floydian space-out of It Haunts Us. Featuring all sorts of cosmic and psychedelic guitar playing along with lost-in-another-dimension vocals and tasteful rhythms from McSorley. The track begs the listener to hit ‘repeat’ multiple times as it is that good, and far and away one of the cooler songs I’ve encountered this year.
Stoner rock can easily fall into familiar patterns, but once in a while, you hear an album that, while not necessarily making any stylistic changes genre-wise, presents itself in such a way that sounds all at once new and refreshing, but comforting in its familiar sonics. This Summit Fever is just that type of album.
As I was absorbing the eight tracks, there were times when I was blown away by the fact that there are just two people in this band, making it all the more jaw-dropping. Blackburn’s riffs, tone and effects are top-notch, but he’s more than capably backed by McSorely, whose drumming is all at once crushing and pummeling, while featuring an awesome resonance throughout. It’s also nuanced by his rhythms, which are vividly on display throughout It Haunts Us.
The internet buzz about this band is both real and well-deserved, as this is easily one of the best stoner rock albums I’ve encountered this year.
Label: Majestic Mountain Records
Band Links: Facebook | Bandcamp | Spotify | Instagram
