Superchief Blow Their Stack on Corporate Dynamite
Posted in Reviews on July 8th, 2011 by H.P. Taskmaster
When last heard from, the riff-heavy Des Moines, Iowa, rockers Superchief made their debut with last year’s Rock Music EP. Recorded mostly live, it was a decent if familiar excursion into genre-minded heavy rock, elements of the desert showing up here and there amid straightforward drive. The subsequent self-released full-length, Corporate Dynamite, is a different game almost entirely. Still definitely in the riff rock vein, Superchief’s first album trades easygoing atmospheres for distortion-fueled burl, and sounds more professional doing it.
The five-piece keep a mind toward the old school in more than just their full jewel case presentation. A double-guitar five-piece with standalone vocals – that is, Haldor Von Hammer isn’t holding one of those two guitars or anything other than a microphone – their crunch is decidedly self-aware, and they fit easily within the heavy rock scope. In that way, tracks like “Odin be Praised” and “They Call Me Nomad” are unpretentious and, like the EP cuts before them, undemanding. Corporate Dynamite is an easy listen in the sense that you understand where it’s coming from and where it’s headed, but Superchief have refined their approach, sound heavier and more individual than they did last time around.
A lot of that is Haldor Von Hammer, who I think might actually be JT Strang, Superchief’s credited vocalist on Rock Music. If he’s assumed the identity of Von Hammer, he’s also taken on a gruffer singing style. He’s not quite at Scissorfight levels of dudeliness, but he’s not far off. Certainly in the Brand New Sin range. For him, and for guitarists Riccardo “Churchill” Terranova and Jason “The Archer” Monroe, Clutch is a decent comparison point, but Superchief have less of a funk influence. Seven-minute opener (bonus points for starting with the longest track) “Fear No Shield” shows that the band’s allegiance lies to metal as well as rock, the crashing second movement of the song – subtitled “The Stand Off” as opposed to the first, which is “The Getaway” – features china cymbal breakdown rhythms from drummer Ryan “The Orb” Marcum, and start-stop riffing from the guitars with which bassist Jason “Big Business” Boten marches in tandem.
If there’s one thing that’s going to test a band – so much so that most acts will go out of their way to avoid the challenge altogether – it’s recording live. Des Moines, Iowa, five-piece Superchief take the task head on with their aptly-titled, self-released five-song EP Rock Music. From what I can gather, the music was done with the two guitars, bass and drums playing together and the vocals added later. It’s not exactly the same, but you can’t really hold it against the band when you consider vocalist JT Strang hadn’t yet joined when the first tracks were put to tape. That kind of thing can really mess with the timing.
The PR wire has the goods on the rest:
With minds expanded and set to the key of retro, Davenport, Iowa — which for those in the know is called “the San Francisco of Iowa” (that’s not true) — the high toned Mondo Drag emerge bearing psychedelic sweets that seem to melt as soon as they hit your tongue. There are 11 of them, to be exact, and when packaged together and put in the right order, they make up the band’s Alive Records debut, New Rituals. It’s a record about as thick as the band’s collective sonic moustache, and right from the opening nine-minute title track, you know there’s a freakout bound to happen here.
