Tsunamicron

Album Review

Released roughly two years after the band's migration from Columbus, OH, to Austin, TX, the Lions of Tsavo's Tsunamicron EP handily fulfilled the frightening promise of its title with a virtual heavy metal tidal wave, crushing everything in its path while dredging up unnamed Lovecraftian terrors from the deepest ocean trenches. With the help of famed stoner rock and metal producer Billy Anderson, the trio injected the same sort of flesh-ripping power riffing upon rabid sonic beasts like "Body Drift" and "Vein of Snakes" as influences like High on Fire or Black Cobra. But at the same time, they exposed a refined sense of composition and musicianship on mathematically complex exercises such as "Vesuvius" and "Minotaur," more reminiscent of progressive-minded acts like Intronaut and Mastodon. A few songs here — "Malaria," "Chi Chi Get the Llello" — don't quite measure up to the rest in terms of "completion" (they just seem like they could have used a little more work), and the lightly plucked instrumental anomaly "Light Bringer" also barely qualifies as a full-fledged song idea. But in the end, the highs far overshadow the lows, and Tsunamicron singled out Lions of Tsavo as a band to watch in years to come.