Review - Feathers

Slowly but surely, the D.C. boys in Dead Meadow are shedding riffs by the pound. Attempting to bottle up all the psychedelic evil of the late '60s and early '70s but learning how weak (and limiting) it is to lean completely on the acid-crutch of dropped-down power chords and Sabbath sludgery, Feathers finds them opting for more drones and tones. Ironically, this is the first album since the addition of second guitarist Cory Shane and, yes, it's still a very heavy thing indeed. But whether it's the dizzying tribal psychosis of "Through the Gates of the Sleepy Silver Door" that closes the album or the rather rockin' "Let's Jump In" that opens it, said heaviness comes less from an anvil-thudding assault and more from the "that's heavy, dude" school of thought.