Hail! Hornet - Disperse The Curse (Relapse)

Mightily pissed-off, swaggering and ornery as hell, North Carolina 'supergroup' Hail! Hornet are just like their winged namesake. Coming from such Southern Sludge Metal royalty as Buzzov-en, Sour Vein, Weedeater, Beaten Back To Pure and Alabama Thunderpussy, these good ol' boys have quite the pedigree and a well-earned collectively fearsome reputation. Bassist “Dixie” Dave Collins, of Weedeater and Buzzov-en infamy, is the man who not so long ago accidentally shot himself in the foot whilst cleaning his firearm, causing a major tour to be postponed, and drummer Erik Larson and vocalist T-Roy have roots in the scene stretching back years. Yessir, these boys have EARNED their rep, and walk it like they talk it they sure do.

Disperse the Curse is the audio equivalent of smashing a hornets nest with a stick, only to find that what’s inside is actually half-hornet, half-rabid grizzly bear, and it’s ‘round about dinner-time.
Axe-man Vince Burke peels off riff after riff of muscular, propulsive thrash with nary a trace of the sludge that this illustrious quartet are usually known for, Larson pounds and flails, attacking the drums with a ferocity that lends him the sound of a Kylesa-like double drum assault, Dixie holds down the low-end like the trooper he always is, more than keeping up with the scything metal around him, and all the while T-Roy screams with all the ire and cast-iron throat of Brian Johnson gargling white-hot lead.

Sure, the tempo drops on occasion – the mid-section of the title track drops into a southern-sludge-style groove at one point, before rapidly coming back up to speed with a riff that Dark Angel would kill for, 'Glass Roses' is a short but sweet slice of one-riff doom, 'Dullards Creek' is built around a rolling, poundingly incessant doom groove not unlike that of prime Obituary, as is gradually slowing, hypnotic closer 'Blacked Out In Broad Daylight' – but on the whole Disperse the Curse is pedal-to-the-metal THRASH, with all of the double-bass pedal fury that entails. 'Beast Of Bourbon' even throws in a tasty bit of prime lead geetar shred. An unexpected, but very welcome, treat.

Hail! Hornet are tighter than a cheesewire garrotte and tonally stripped-right-down to the muscle and gristle. A lean, mean ripping machine, the overall impression is of four guys blowing off steam from their slothful day-jobs, firing on all cylinders and really exorcising some demons. Hail! Hail! Hornet!