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Brass Castle, Brass Castle

by Meghan Jones
09/11/2006

According to their Myspace profile, Brass Castle sounds like "drunk people in flames occasionally extinguished by some smooth sailin' yacht jock's salty breezes." And when I first read that, I thought it was absurd. But really, I suppose it's quite accurate. Their vocals do have a tendency to sound drunk – check out Track 13, "Give What You Got," to see what I mean – but their self-titled album, released in June of this year on Velocette Records, also offers the occasional completely unexpected song. I'm guessing those are the salty breezes, compliments of the yacht jock.

The band is only comprised of two guys, but the music has tends to be a bit more robust than that. They seem to be pretty talented musicians, showing off knowledge and ability in multiple musical motifs (how's that for alliteration?). The drumming is mainly of the heavy metal variety, but the guitar riffs span the spectrum from Southern rock over to the distortion-loving sound of the 70's and then meeting up with the drums across in harder rock. The vocals blend well together, and they have at least as much range as the instrumentation. On about half of the songs, there is what my personal taste thinks of as "too much" screaming, but on the other half, the singing is my favorite aspect.

As for individual likes and dislikes, I consider "Angelfights" the catchiest on the album. It's the biggest salty breeze, if you will. As for the song "Yellow Jackets," it kind of just makes me miserable. However, Track 4, "Shark Alley Shag," likeably takes on a quality something like the Ramones, while the vocals on "The Hawaiian," sound like the Violent Femmes. All in all, I'd call the album a mixed bag; it's definitely worth checking out because you'll probably find a few songs to hang on to, but I wouldn't expect to listen to the whole thing on repeat for the next month.

I recommend checking out their website for some interesting fodder. The band keeps a blog-style news update to cover hot topics like the new mini-fridge in their studio as well as the progress of their recordings and new material. And they seem to be into food almost as much as they're into their music: there is a LOT written about what they eat, would like to eat or ate two days ago. Also, the guys want to start doing restaurant reviews of places they like to eat at in Atlanta and on the road. Oh, and there's music samples as well. And if you like what you hear, Brass Castle will play at the Caledonia Lounge Monday, September 11 before they're off to continue their mini-tour of the Southeast.

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