boWsER
Whispers From the Wicker Man
(boWsER)

Strap in and come along for the ride with hard rock trio boWsER’s new album Whispers From the Wicker Man.

As much I like the crazy, slightly stuttering beat caused by drummer Nathan Williams on the opener “Renegade,” I like the second tune, the tight little noisy “Caught the Raisin,” even better. What gets me from the jump here is Brad Weynton’s voice. He manages to handle melody quite well, letting the music get as spooky as it needs to, not his voice. I hear too much of this genre of music prompting vocalists to put overt nasty character in their voice than needed. Wynton avoids this trope.

“Chemicals,” five songs in, rocks and snaps even more than any before it. Bassist Otto Mitter is popping like mad, Williams is pushing, and the guys roil through a metallic-sounding chorus and again invest real solid melody into the verses. Mitter starts off “Animals,” and we are into a real groove quickly, almost an actual dance tune, I feel. The swing here is thrown down throughout the track with a whole bunch of vibing but always comes back to where they started. Masterful stuff, really.

“Wicker Man” is a mad riff-heavy stomp; Williams is absolutely on fire here. “All about the money,” a teasing almost nursery rhythm of verses offset with straight punk choruses and the big, dare I say, commercial, “Fault Line,” ends.

Whispers From the Wicker Man is great stuff, expansive in a way not many trios can be, certainly not usually in this genre of music.