Bison B.C. – Quiet Earth

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Bison B.C, or Bison as they are now called, is a young Canadian band trying to make their mark in the stoner metal genre. With a sound reminiscent of Black Sabbath, Mastodon, and The Sword, their sophomore album Quiet Earth is a ambitious effort that doesn’t quite reach legendary status, but avoids the dreaded “sophomore curse.”

The eight tracks that make up Quiet Earth go through quite a few twists and turns. Quiet Earth can be an exciting listen at times, but the band does have a tendency to stretch a song longer than necessary. The second half of the album is guilty of this, with the plodding “These Are My Dress Clothes” and over-long instrumental “Meditation” slowing the album down considerably. Thankfully, the closing title track gets the album back on track with a solid thrash breakdown and perfectly-placed violins and cello.

The highlight of the album is the two part “Wendigo,” which encompasses all of the band’s influences into a twelve-minute space. Guitarists James Gnarwell and Dan And pull out harmonics and dueling solos like it was 1983 and Gnarwell’s vocals will immediately remind the listener of Mastodon bassist/vocalist Troy Sanders. It is an epic tune, one that the band successfully tackles.

Quiet Earth has its thrashy moments (”Dark Towers”), but mostly lumbers along the beaten path, taking its time to pound the listener into submission. Bison B.C doesn’t do anything innovative, but Quiet Earth is a good album. It could have been a great album, if not for the less-than-stellar second half, but for a young band, Bison B.C has a lot of potential. The only question is if that potential will be shown in the future; only time will tell, but the talent is there for great success.