KozybunX: Practice Room Demo.N (2011)

Kozywtf?

Guest review by Metallattorney. He is the law.

I have no idea what this name is supposed to represent. It looks more like someone's ill-conceived chatroom screen name than the name of a band. Furthermore, it certainly does not seem to be the kind of name a stoner doom metal band would choose. It seems much more likely to be chosen by a pop group or some other mainstream atrocity. But nevertheless, here we are, with KozybunX bringing some interesting Electric Wizard-esque psychedelic stoner doom.

KozybunX are a four-piece doom metal group who apparently recorded this demo in their practice room. Nonetheless, the production values are actually quite impressive. This sounds every bit as powerful and heavy as anything that the aforementioned Electric Wizard put out. The riffs are slow and muddy, just the way stoner doom should be. They have a very thick bottom end that gives the atmosphere a sense of gloom and desolation. The demo as a whole gives off a feeling of impending doom, which I guess is kind of the point of the whole genre.


The interesting aspect of this release is that the band does not use vocals. Instead, they add to the doom riffs samples from various B-movies and other sources. I know I recognized one sample from a White Zombie song. I could not tell you the actual source of the samples as I am not well-versed in B-movies these days. They do certainly add to the general atmosphere and the inclusion of samples is done well enough that vocals and lyrics are not even missed. The samples do a good job of actually telling a story themselves. It is a fairly original idea and it is presented very well in this case.

The only real issue I have with this is that the songs do tend to drag a bit. The shortest track is seven minutes long with the second track being nearly 18 minutes. That is not unusual for this type of metal, but there is not a lot of tempo change. Once the band locks into a riff, they keep it going for a long time. That is not to say there are no changes in dynamics, just not a lot.



The Verdict: Beyond the one complaint and the silly name though, this was a surprisingly good release. Hopefully the band will come up with a better moniker and keep going. 3 out of 5 stars.