G&P Review: Greber

Greber
Hometown Heroin
Bandcamp
When he’s not forcibly fucking your facts, bassist Marc Bourgon (and his collaborators from The Great Sabatini) must be getting down to old Man is the Bastard records because Greber, their new project, is all about the power and the glory of the bass. In fact, the four stringer elbows every other instrument to wings on debut EP Hometown Heroin.
Jettisoning the obligatory intro/outro, you’re left with six songs of low end aggression that sounds like the bastard child of the power violence progenitors and Australia’s bass-heavy experimental sludgesters Halo. Even if the some of the songs, like the mercurial “Cavedwelling,” which 1s and 0s between half time blasts and troglodyte trudge, could have used a trim, it’s still a tidy package. When Greber is on, the songs are ponderous monstrosities that dominate the landscape. The serpentine, sinuous “The Saddest Joke” knits in plaintive guitar drones with the bass, briefly letting another instrument grab the spotlight. “Carriers,” the strongest groove of the lot, slowly winds down to entropic stillness like a clock with a broken spring.
While there’s a bit of sameness that creeps in to some of the songs, Hometown Heroin powers through with incredible sound and a singleminded commitment to the bass-forward sound they doggedly pursued.

[Full disclosure: the band sent me a download.]