Review Summary: Barfighter's least inspiring release to date is still a fairly enjoyable slab of instrumental stoner/space rock.
In any form of art, originality is hard to come by, but even harder to maintain over time. An act that starts out unique may well find itself eventually encroaching in another act's territory, however unintentionally, or simply running out of steam or ideas. A workhorse type of schedule will, inevitably, only exarcebate this problem, as an artist or act required to come up with new material in a purposefully short amount of time is more likely to dip into the recycle bin than one with the length and leisure to let ideas develop.
Kentucky-based instrumental stoner trio Barfighter definitely fit into the former category, having put out an astonishing four releases in just over six months of existence; as such, it is unsurprising, if more than a little disheartening, to see them put out their least inspired (and inspiring) release to date with their latest three-song EP.
A proud purveyor of the band's tendency for traditional album nomenclature and minimalist artwork, the simply yet explicitly titled
Barfighter 4 does, however, differ from its predecessors in a number of other ways. Firstly, while it does still contain three songs clocking in at over six minutes each, the previously consistent runtime of 26 minutes has been shortened to just 23 this time around, mainly due to the songs themselves being shorter – for the first time in the band's history, no song goes over the 10 minute threshold. Most notably, however, this took
two and a half months to come out – an eternity for a band whose previously largest interval between releases was just six weeks.
That is partially why it is such a disappointment to acknowledge that
Barfighter 4 makes for the band's least immediate and least inspired set of songs to date. In fact, an initial listen with the expectations set to high may leave a previous connoisseur under the impression that this is an actively poor release, while a new fan choosing this as their starting point will probably not be overly impressed, either. Eventually, with a little goodwill and a bit of effort, the three tracks that make up this EP do reveal themselves to be growers; this, however, is still not up to par for a band that used to grab listeners by the privates within one riff of any given song.
The reason these three new tracks do not work as well as their predecessors is simple, and can be chalked up to two key factors. On the one hand, the band have chosen to continue on down the path they trailed on their previous release, moving progressively away from the Sabbathical heaviness of their early releases and towards a space/psych rock ambiance. And if prior EP's saw them embrace their Sabbath and Fu Manchu influences,
4 sees them turn into Hawkwind – if Hawkwind dialled down their intentionally quirky leaning and settled for being a lounge act at a blues rock bar. Songs like
Nibiru Conspiracy are so preoccupied with guitar noodling that they forget the riffs, and end up making this album sound limp, even when compared to its openly bluesy predecessor. It therefore takes a good few listens to establish that yes, the heavy guitars are still there, and there is actually a good number of sludgy tripped-out riffs to enjoy, particularly on closer
Psychic Voyage; by then, however, only the most patient and understanding fans will still be paying attention, which again, can be construed as underwhelming for the previously red-hot trio.
Most worryingly, however, a substantial amount of
Barfighter 4 sounds recycled from the group's previous discography. More than once during even a casual listen, a riff, lick or passage will bring up a vivid memory of hearing something similar in one of Barfighter's other EP's – and done better there, as well. While this is undoubtedly a by-product of the self-imposed challenge that is the band's schedule, it is nonetheless saddening to see a group run out of ideas with just 100 minutes of music – the equivalent of two full-length albums - to their name.
Still, every cloud has a silver lining – and in this case, that comes from the realization that Barfighter's music has lost
originality, not
quality. The songs on
Barfighter 4 may be less immediately appealing or inspiring than the ones on the group's other releases, but they are being measured on the Barfighter scale – meaning plenty of groups would still kill to come up with grooves this good and licks this noodly. Simply put, Barfighter's least inspiring release to date is still a fairly enjoyable slab of instrumental stoner/space rock, and well worth the pittance the group are asking for it. It is just not
'Barfighter good' – and that ends up being its biggest flaw.
Recommended Tracks
Psychic Voyage
DOWNLOAD IT HERE: https://barfighter.bandcamp.com/album/barfighter-4
