Album Review: Crobot - Something Supernatural (2014)

This is one of my newest favorites right here. I was first exposed to these guys in arguably the best way you can be exposed to any great band, which was seeing them perform live with hardly any idea what to expect. That performance was in September of 2015, when I saw them open for Anthrax and Motörhead at the Tower Theater in Philadelphia. Interestingly enough, this was a semi-local show for these guys as they hail from Pottsville, PA, a little under two hours northwest from Philly. Despite originating in what is arguably the capital city of Eastern Pennsyltucky, these guys blew me away with their psychedelic and distortion-heavy hard rock sound. When describing that sound to people since then, I tell them to imagine “a bluesier version of Audioslave with Myles Kennedy on vocals”. Those comparisons are based mostly on the phenomenal creativity of guitarist Chris Bishop, who plays like a humbler version of Tom Morello, and the powerful voice of singer Brandon Yeagley, whose stage presence is just as intense and dynamic as his vocals. Brothers Jake and Paul Figueroa are no slouches either though, both contributing unorthodox playing styles to the bass and drums respectively, giving the band’s rhythm section a fantastically groovy edge. Besides the band’s sheer talent, in a world overloaded with soft cookie-cutter hipster-baiting indie “rock” bands, it just makes me extremely happy to come across an indie band that actually knows how to rock the fuck out for a change.

So get your spirit ready to cross over...

1. Legend of the Spaceborne Killer

The opening song begins with a trippy intro that builds quickly to a sick crescendo of punchy guitar and a drum beat with plenty of crash cymbal. Then Brandon Yeagley’s vocals immediately kick in, and the song just keeps on blasting pure hard rock goodness from that point on. Tom Morello could take some serious pointers from this song on how to use extreme guitar effects in a more subtle fashion, as Chris Bishop precisely and sparingly sprinkles them in amongst the wall of beautiful noise. This also happened to be the opening song of the band’s Tower Theater set, and it had me hooked right from the opening riff. Check out the live video below to see why.

2. Nowhere to Hide

This is arguably the most “normal” rock song on the album, but it’s still very good. The use of guitar distortion really sounds great on this track, and of course one can’t overlook a great old school guitar solo.

3. The Necromancer

The unexpected use of a harmonica surprisingly melds into this faster paced track very well. The song is the first of many on the album to demonstrate the band’s unorthodox but awesome mix of old school heavy metal lyricism and psychedelic blues rock musicality.

4. La Mano de Lucifer

This song slows things down a bit with its bluesy rock ballad intro, but then the punchy distorted guitar returns, with more of Chris Bishop’s subtle guitar effects use throughout. The relaxed groovy guitar solo before the bridge is a nice highlight as well.

5. Skull of Geronimo

Here’s another song that kicks off with a slightly trippy intro that gives way to an instrumental onslaught. The rest of the song has a very enjoyable relaxed verse/heavy chorus pattern that brings to mind Audioslave’s self-titled debut album, particularly the song “Gasoline”. Brandon Yeagley’s high vocals are particularly awesome on this track.

6. Cloud Spiller

There are great groovy riffs in this song, and bizarre lyrics that would fit right into a song by Dio or a similar metal band with heavy mythology influences. But damn it if a grungy blues rock sound doesn’t work wonders with the subject matter. Actually, under the right circumstances “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” could easily be a metal song. Genre boundaries be damned, this song just kicks ass.

7. Fly on the Wall

Along with “Skull of Geronimo”, this song firmly establishes Crobot as the psychedelic bluesy second coming of Audioslave.

8. Night of the Sacrifice

This is a wicked groovy tune with dark Iron Maiden-like lyrics, and another Morello-esque effected guitar solo that doesn’t overstay its welcome.

9. Chupacabra

Things lighten up with this song, as it’s groovy riffs and campfire story-like lyrics give it a very fun vibe. There’s a very short guitar solo this time round, but it’s a fierce one.

10. Wizards

This track starts out dark and ominous like a doom metal song, but quickly gets back to the groovy side of things, which gives a less serious vibe to the Dio-like lyrics. In place of a true guitar solo, Chris Bishop’s guitar effects are overlapped with the doomy intro music and Brandon Yeagley’s wailing, and the results are pretty damn cool.

11. Queen of the Light

This is the song with the most serious tone on the album, a heavy psychedelic rock love ballad with great vocals courtesy of Brandon Yeagley.

12.Tap Dancin’ on a Tightrope

The original version of the album closes with this upbeat swinging rock tune. The distortion is toned way down compared to the rest of the album, giving the song a really loose and fun feel.

13. Full Moon Howl

The expanded “Full Moon Howl” version of the album takes its name from this extremely groovy track, an upbeat song with a slight Wizard of Oz theme.

14. Back at the Blackwoods

Brandon Yeagley’s harmonica returns on this groovy track, but it’s otherwise a pretty standard track as far as the rest of the album goes.

15. Weigh Me Down

This is one of the album’s more relaxed tracks, with a lot of entertaining guitar work from Chris Bishop in the verses. The song ends with a cool combination of heavy instrumentation and admirable vocal gymnastics from Brandon Yeagley.

16. Upon a Pale Horse

This track gives the listener a small taste of the band’s fantastic live chops. Musically it opens with some excellent traditional guitar soloing before switching back and forth between distorted and clean guitars for the rest of the song. Oddly enough the distortion and guitar effects sound smoother in this live recording than in most of the studio tracks, but it gives the song a very cool and relaxed jammy feel.

With their combination of excellent musicianship and their bold and energetic presence both onstage and on studio tracks, Crobot is one fantastic example out of a whole new wave of heavy indie rock bands, such as Royal Blood and Highly Suspect, who have recently started to leak through into the mainstream musical consciousness. With great talent, and influences rooted in classic rock and classic metal, one can only hope that in the coming years this new musical force reduces the incessant horde of hipster “rock” bands back to the mild-mannered obscurity they claim to enjoy reveling in. The world of rock and metal has plenty of walls that need shaking and heads that need banging, and bands like Crobot will be more than happy to oblige.

Top Three Tracks:

1. Skull of Geronimo

2. Legend of the Spaceborne Killer

3. La Mano de Lucifer