Honeybadger – Let There Be Light
Sodeh Records – 2025
Rock, Stoner
Rated: ***
You will be getting momentary, minute or weird flashbacks from time to time to Red Fang, courtesy of a vocal melody, Queens Of The Stone Age because of some tones and riffs & Them Crooked Vultures cause of the breaks and groove. Shit, there are more of those muscle memory instances for different bands and albums as well. But does this hinder you loving the new album Let There Be Light by Greek quartet Honeybadger, hell no!
It's been five goddamn years since their former album Pleasure Delayer and only now the Honeybadger four have managed to stumble out of the desert like an outlaw that saw the light. Did they know this was the way to go and the path out of the wasteland? Not sure, but they decided to bottle it anyway. Let There Be Light is their redemption, grungy yet clean, stoner yet catchy and loud enough to rearrange your dental work!
The band and producer Alex Bolpasis have captured the sound with crystal clarity, yet all tightly wrapped in chaos. The twin guitars crash like locomotives and the bass is the rumble underneath. Offering the drummer the ability to hammer the demons out of town. Trumpet and trombone appear suddenly, like a mariachi band lost in the desert.
Vocalist Dimitris Vardoulakis doesn’t sing as much as he prophesizes, half preacher, half coyote. His voice breaks across the horizon, carrying the dust of Kyuss, the swagger of Clutch and the sneer of Queens Of The Stone Age. And you remember that grunge we mentioned, it’s always there, like the dirt and grime underneath his fingernails. All smeared and angry, like that nineties alternative energy that makes you want to punch the gas and speed off into the sunset.
And with many tracks the throttle will be wide open, although some will hit you like an i.v. laced with acid, turning your head into kaleidoscopic hangover mirage. And always, there’s exorcism by fuzz pedal and salvation through distortion. Wild? Yes. Heavy? Certainly. Catchy? You bet your ass! It often shines and sounds sophisticated, but you will feel this is that stonerrock gospel for the sinners. No cheap beers for this lot, but wine and port, and the lust to hear their poetry on hot nights, as the desert power lines hum somewhere in the distance. Every riffs feels like a confession and every groove grabs you like heat stroke. This is the kind of hallucination that punches back!
(Written by JK)
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Read about Pleasure Delayer HERE
