Aural Fixations

PROBOT
Probot
(Southern Lord)
Probot is one of the more intriguing side projects to rumble out of the superstar trenches. Foo Fighters leader Dave Grohl spent his teenage years in 80s Washington, DC as a diehard fan of not only the hardcore he played in the Scream, but also of underground heavy metal. That meant everything from death metal pioneers Sepultra and black metal forebears Venom and Mercyful Fate to stoner rock icons Trouble and the Obsessed and metalcore originators D.R.I. and Corrosion of Conformity. Probot is Grohl's way of paying tribute to the heroes of his pimple-faced years; not only did he write and perform music in the styles of the old metal guard, he invited the original singers from those bands to contribute vocals and lyrics to his pre-recorded compositions. There's an appropriate variety to the tracks here, with no two cuts sounding exactly alike. "Centuries of Sin," featuring original Venom singer Cronos, kicks the record off with some good-natured devil metal; "Sweet Dreams," a slower, more faux-evil version of same featuring a perfectly ridiculous vocal from Mercyful Fate frontman King Diamond, closes it. Both are silly fun; only a hardcore fundamentalist could take either seriously. "Red War," featuring a particularly bloodthirsty vocal from Sepultra's Max Cavalera, and "Big Sky," a bizarre cut perfectly in keeping with singer Tom G. Warrior's former avant metal outfit Celtic Frost, nicely cover the death metal angle. The collision of heavy metal and hardcore punk that has so intrigued and vexed fans of both over the years gets its due with "Access Babylon," featuring Corrosion of Conformity's Mike Dean, and "Silent Spring," showcasing D.R.I. howler Kurt Brecht. For me, these are the least impressive cuts, but then, I'm not much of a fan of metalcore. More to my tastes are the tracks featuring stoner rockers like Cathedral's Lee Dorrian (on "Ice Cold Man") and Trouble's Eric Wagner (on "My Tortured Soul"), or the oddball metal of Voivod's Snake on "Dictatosaurus." Also pretty butt-rockin' is "Shake Your Blood," a slick Motörhead pastiche featuring that band's Lemmy on bass and vocals. Best of all is "The Emerald Law," a great, psychedelic metal song featuring Wino (the Obsessed, Spirit Caravan, etc.), who sings and plays soulful guitar on a tune that doesn't sound like anything he's worked on before, or anything like any of the other songs on this album. And do I even need to point out that the drumming is terrific throughout? While Grohl gets some outside assistance from friends (including Soundgarden's Kim Thayil on a couple of cuts), his tonal consistency, especially on guitar, gives most of the tracks a slightly homogenous sheen, even when the melodies and arrangements vary. But that's a minor quibble. For the most part, Probot works well as both a nod to beloved forebears, and as a kick-ass record on its own terms. Michael Toland [buy it]