Xanthan: Succubus Swing

Here is a do it yourself release from Texas trio Xanthan titled Succubus Swing. And no, this is not the food thickening agent. As far as the band is concerned, well, this is a much more difficult question. In the band are Boz Miller (drums), Max Miller (guitar), and Corin Gatwood (6-string basses and vocals).

The cover art and album title had me intrigued. For those who don’t know, a succubus is a female demon, and a swing is, well, a swing. Use your imagination to gain further insight.

There are six tracks totalling about twenty-two minutes of music so consider this an EP. This is a heavy album, it is certainly progressive, some funkiness in the heavy grooves, very rhythmic with some great band interplay. The album opening “HYBYC� is heavy on the funky bass and drum groove, very much Primus-like with squelching lead guitar and off kilter, inventive riffs. Heavy riffs and guitar fills give “1934� a solid rock foundation and in “Colliskeions: 23� the band’s creativity explodes with varying tempos, frenetic band interplay, and mellower guitar lines. “Bump of Excellence� is my favourite track with its moody sustained guitar, trippy breakdown, and is much more refined than the previous tracks. Ending the disc is “In Killeen�, a drum heavy tune with distorted vocals and fine guitar work.

Xanthan have an experimental edge, and when they can refine the edges a bit more as with “Bump of Excellence�, their music gets that much more intriguing. Really, the ingredients are there for a top-notch album. I would love to hear what they do on a full-length release.

Track Listing:
1. HYBYC (2:54)
2. 1934 (2:32)
3. Colliskeions: 23 (5:07)
4. Bump of Excellence (5:55)
5. Mrs. Haan (1:29)
6. In Killeen (4:01)

Added: January 24th 2023
Reviewer: Jon Neudorf
Score:
Related Link: Band @ Bandcamp
Hits: 644
Language: english

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