CHROME HOOF — Crush Depth (review)

Album · 2010 · Non-Metal

4/5 · 2024-10-03
siLLy puPPy

Following in the hoofsteps of its crazed sophomore album “Pre-Emptive False Rapture” which hoisted them into the greater world stage, CHROME HOOF followed its P-Funk infused modern mix of Parliament / Funkadelic meets electronica, jazz, mutant disco and progressive pop with its third album installment CRUSH DEPTH which continued their experimental chamber orchestra excesses presumably while wearing their famous aluminum foil regalia! Following three years after its predecessor, the band returned with a nine member lineup only this time invited a whopping seventeen instrumentalists and vocalists to the HOOFian party pad!

More diverse and less disco-y then “Pre-Emptive,” CRUSH DEPTH comes across as a mutant experiment gone wrong where the B-52s meet George Clinton at a chamber rock’s cameo with an avant-metal band! Yep, CHROME HOOF may have morphed its focus but CRUSH DEPTH remains in the realms of alien space orchestra turf and al the better for it. In many ways the 13 tracks on CRUSH DEPTH that will swallow up a precious hour’s worth of your life force is more streamlined and noticeably less reliant on the metal guitar heft and excessive brutal prog bombast of “Pre-Emptive.” Likewise there’s a bit more of a jazzy flair with some moments of pure fusion finding its way into the mix.

Where the metal, prog and punk have been exorcised like demons from a serial killing psychopath, the band brings some serious synth funk to the forefront with a militant zeuhl-ish continuity interpolated into the avant-prog weirdness and post-rock cyclical processions. Less energetic and bombastic and more chilled with a greater ambient approach that nurtures psychedelic atmospheric constructs, CRUSH DEPTH. And living up to their name as chamber orchestra (a claim that is hard to swallow most of the time), this album even features true chamber rock splendor in the form of tracks like “Witch’s Instruments and Furnaces” which actually serves as one of the highlights with its herky jerky unorthodox rhythmic drive and trippy neo-psychedelic atmospheric weirdness. Even the vocals are less frantic and more based on weird. However none that prevents some heavy guitar thumping to burst in also making this one of the heavier tracks on board.

CHROME HOOF is really a unique act and hard to believe it was formed by bassist Leo Smee of the stoner doom metal band Cathedral along with his brother / drummer Milo Smee. This band crafts a unique mix of crafty psycho-pop mixed with chamber metal disco, punk funk and schizoid proggy cacophony. While i don’t find CRUSH DEPTH to be quite as addictive as “Pre-Emptive False Rapture,” it’s a much different and varied release that showcases the band’s ability to craft unique textures, tones and timbres without the excessive bombast. Some would even call it more mature but i just call it different. It’s clear that the musicians are well seasoned veterans who can navigate hairpin turns like a swarm of bees en masse and while the prog, metal and punk aspects have been toned down a bit, they still erupt unexpectedly on CRUSH DEPTH when you least expect them to!