When I heard this album for the first time, thoughts of my home town came to mind. Port Huron, Michigan is just across the river from Sarnia, Canada. There is a restaurant downtown where you can sit and watch the river and Canada. The place was high priced and the menu limited. One of the main knocks against it was that you just didn't get enough for your money. That is what I recall of the restaurant called Fogcutter.
Fiftywatthead is no restaurateurs but they seem to have the same problem as the eatery across the way from their native land. Although what they offer you is tasty enough, there is just not enough substance or originality to fill your hungry belly. With their sludge filled detuned guitars, they give you a healthy dose of the gritty metal that is so similar to other bands such as Mastodon or going back further, the drudge filled tone of Black Sabbath. Fiftywatthead may try to emulate their forefathers but this is one of those cases where you might just as well go to the original source.
I cannot say that this is a bad album. There is some really nasty, heavy guitar work. In fact, some of the heaviest stuff around in quite some time can be found on here. The main problem is that every track on here has a sameness to it and this lack of variety tends to make you a bit weary by the end. Add to that a "I have heard this all before" quality to the music and you have a disc that is one you might get a bit of a kick out of the first time or two but that is about all. There is some promise here but the guys should maybe take a good listen to someone like Candlemass and see where the differences lie.
Track listing:
1. Whiteout
2. Fogcutter
3. Seadawg
4. Capsized
5. Four Points
6. Iron Clad
7. Last Leg
8. Followed By
9. Thunder
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