Play It Again: Red Fang - Red Fang

Every Friday (under the tag Frydee) The Obelisk posts a music video and sums up the past week and what is upcoming.for the man (H.P. Taskmaster) and the site in general. This past week's 'Frydee Red Fang' hosts the new music video for "Wires" a song taken from Red Fang's brand new album. The video is pretty clever, you should check it out, and had me laughing at last at one point, but the more important aftermath of the video (at least for me and you) is the return of my interest for the group. I have received their latest release, Murder The Mountains, and look forward to reviewing it, but I decided to listen to the band's debut, self-titled, album first, to reacquaint myself with the act. And so I give Red Fang another try.

Although I've known about Red Fang for some time now, I only recently ever took the time to actually listen to their debut. Someone said something on a forum, or posted a review or something and it got me thinking about the group. Most comments and reviews have been pretty much overwhelmingly positive, and who can battle that praise for long? So I decided to give it up, take a seat and give Red Fang a spin. What I heard, on this first take, was an album of groovy stoner rock, with a couple of bright stand-outs but the rest of the album being very average. Their music had some skill, but not enough flair to really pop in my head.
That initial review stuck with me, and so I wasn't in much of a rush to hear their follow up, but, after seeing this video and after finding some like-minded people who also thought their debut was average but their second was sweet, I decided to start from the beginning, and it's a good thing that I did.

On this second listen, I found myself really enjoying songs that I had previously thought of as kind of dull. I don't know why the sudden shift of my views but it makes reviewing an album all the more pleasant. The songs I initially liked; "Prehistoric Dog" and "Reverse Thunder" are still in full swing but are now joined by "Wings of Fang" and "Witness." There are still some kind of dull tracks, but they are getting fewer and further between. Who knows, another listen or two and this album may become my favorite of all time (I kid... maybe).

I'm really astounded at the turnaround of my opinion of Red Fang's debut album. I was looking for a quick listen of the album to reorient myself with the group and instead ending up enjoying it enough to write an article about it. This has really raised my expectations for Murder The Mountains, and also my excitement for it! Expect that review coming up soon, but until then go grab Red Fang and become reacquainted with this damn good record.