BUZZOV•EN — To A Frown (review)

Album · 1993 · Sludge Metal

3.5/5 · 2020-12-09
siLLy puPPy

BUZZOVEN or more often stylized as BUZZOV*EN was one of the very first bands to develop the sludge metal genre along with bands like Melvins, Eyehategod and Acid Bath and were noted in their early days for extremely violent live shows. Formed in the city of Wilmington, NC, the band relocated to Salisbury north of Charlotte and existed from 1990-99 but then reformed in 2010 and is still active. The only continuous member has been vocalist / guitarist Kirk Fischer also affectionally known as Reverend Dirtkicker and the band has seen numerous lineup changes over its on and off again 30 year run.

The early version of BUZZOVEN started playing in various clubs in the Charlotte area and almost immediately got banned from every one of them due to the aggressive and scary behavior that resulted in the destruction of equipment and furnishings as well as a never-ending series of fights and over the top theatrical performances. This led to the band becoming an underground cult favorite and BUZZOVEN caught the attention of Roadrunner Records after the release of this debut album TO A FROWN which sounded a lot different than what came after as the band at this stage was more infused with hardcore punk in the vein of raging Black Flag only treated with a drug-infused haze and along with sludge metal guitars that included some seriously ugly guitar feedback.

As an ugly chimera of down-tuned sludge riffs, heavy metal aggression, noise rock dissonance and punk infused irreverence, TO A FROWN perfectly encapsulates the band’s early uncontrollable angst which got them banned from virtually every venue they played. This album is chock full of ugly mangled guitar riffs accompanied by a punk sludge backing and brought even further into the WTF zone by Fischer’s eccentric vocal style that sat somewhere between punk rock declarations in semi-spoken prose and early extreme sludge metal like Eyehategod and early Neurosis. This is true tortured soul music if there ever was any and although not as bombastic as death metal or second wave black metal, this one has a more direct approach with the rage making a direct pipeline from band to audience.

TO A FROWN featured eleven tracks with the lineup of Kirk Fischer on vocals, guitar, Brian Hill on bass and Ash Lee on drums. Long out of print, the album finally saw a re-release on the Polish label Behind The Mountain in 2018 but can be more easily found on the compilation “Welcome To Violence” together with the band’s early EPs “Wound” and “Unwilling To Explain.” While the band would gradually loosen the hardcore punk load, this debut is just dripping with angst fueled wrath that feels a bit like the bastard child of early Hellhammer, Black Flag and Amoebix. Despite being considered one of the pioneers of the sludge metal sound, BUZZOVEN has remained firmly in the underground dodging any signs of success with its seemingly incessant self-destructive behavior.

The best track on this debut is the near 18 minute closer “Weeding” that features frightening spoken word sound samples, creepy down-tuned bass runs and colliding guitar noise crafting skronk and awe. The slow plodding tempo and no wave sensibilities along with Fischer’s psycho serial killer narratives making this one of the creepiest metal songs i’ve encountered in a while. This is a decent debut if you’re seeking some of the angriest sounds to emerge from the early 90s metal world with vocals that sound like they are on the verge of a psychotic breakdown and irreverent angular guitar riffs that wouldn’t sound out of place in the NYC no wave movement ten years prior. This band was all about crafting one of the ugliest sounding bastard children of punk and metal possible and clearly succeeded in that goal with one mangled monstrous track after another.