FOR THE LOVE OF METAL
Doom metal, in general, is not summertime music. When the sun’s out, the temperature’s rising and yer sweatin’ balls, you wanna cruise down the blacktop blasting some Kyuss or Fu Manchu, not some slow, melancholic, depressing tunes. Not that I have anything against slow and depressing, mind you–I just don’t have it pumping on the patio.
Although he came off as a coked-out space cadet on the two occasions I’ve seen him perform, and I’ve read many an interview where he clearly appears to be off his rocker, I can safely say that Bobby Liebling is not on drugs. Because I’ve seen him on drugs, in the Last Days Here documentary, and he looked a lot worse than he does now.
There’s nothing easy about the album; no chant-along moments that incite crowds and establish instant followers. Everything with this affair is begrudging and hard-won on both sides of the band/listener relationship. Yet those who stick around long enough will realize that sometimes it’s those things we fight hardest for which wind up being the most enduring. To that extent, You Are Beneath Me is case in point.
This 12-track affair is surprisingly progressive, unwittingly infusing a great deal of punk rock ‘n’ roll into their beastly Sick Of It All-influenced (as in, Three Steps Back feels like it could be a natural successor to Scratch The Surface) delivery.