HERMANO
 'Into The Exam Room'
SUBURBAN RECORDS

SUPERB!


Conceived across various wide open spaces in the US and under a carpet of twinkling stars, ‘Into the Exam Room’ is the third studio album from former Kyuss frontman John Garcia’s, Hermano; a monstrously low slung yet ruggedly transcendental six-piece that creates magic music, brought back from the mountains, mist in the hair and awash with inherited memories of the 60’s and 70’s.  Since their debut ‘Only a Suggestion’ in 2002, Hermano have largely been accepted because of Garcia’s history, but on the evidence of this glorious collection of chunky rock work-outs, your record collection will look decidedly sad unless you invest in its hypnotic and refreshing inspirations.  In the past they haven’t been adverse to slapping steaming undercoats of thick axework beneath their subtleties, but here the authentic guitar tones and low end bass avalanche will fry woofers and pop tweeters like never before.  They launch into opener ‘Kentucky’ like hobos from hell, as a vagrants tale unfolds over a dirty riff they’ve scraped straight from the gutter.  If you can imagine it, this sounds like Kyuss strained through Soundgarden and Monster Magnet, with Garcia’s delectable croon riding the ensuing waves with a giddy eyes-closed finesse that is inspired and totally intoxicating.  Occasionally ditching heaviness in favour of a smoother swing on ‘Dark Horse II’ and ‘Bona-Fide’ Garcia harks back to the Spanish inflected acoustics of ‘Sky Valley’, before exploding into the message free bludgeoning fare of ‘Left Side Bleeding’, ‘Hard Working Wall’ and ‘Adoption Boy’.  This is way beyond what we have come to expect from the music that surrounds us all today and while you don’t need to understand its sensibilities to be moved by the mood, you will be; mentally, dentally and sentimentally.