Paralyzed

Witch

Tee Pee

2008-03-31

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Witch don’t rehearse and rarely play live and consequently Paralyzed is a spontaneous document of the chemistry between J Mascis (playing drums — his first instrument), Dave Sweetapple (bass) and Kyle Thomas, formally of avant-folk group Feathers (guitar and vocals).  Paralyzed follows Mascis et al’s eponymous debut, also released on NYC’s home of the loud and the psychedelic, Tee Pee Records.

It’s a cross-pollination of Dinosaur Jr. and Mudhoney’s spare, punk-driven grunge and Black Sabbath’s sludgy heavy rock. Some tracks veer closer to the former, like “Eye” or “Space God”. Others, such as “Disappear”, are closer to the latter.  Though the tempo is changeable the multi-tracked vox, clattering drums and squally guitar remain constants and this gives the nine tracks a pleasing sense of the whole.

It might be two dimensional but those two dimensions are ‘heavy’ and ‘fast’.

“Psychotic Rock” and “Sweet Sue” are two of the best representations of what’s on offer. The first starts as a heavy dirge and speeds up into a ragged crescendo as Kyle Thomas’ single line “psychotic rock is a dream” ascends maniacally. The speed-comedown funk of “Sweet Sue” has the closest thing to a catchy chorus but is  set in the stoner-rock amber of Nebula or Kyuss.

Paralyzed recalls a time when Ozzy was more famous than Sharon, crowd surfing was a glint in a skater kid’s eye and devil horns really meant something. It might be two dimensional but those two dimensions are ‘heavy’ and ‘fast’ so it should find fans from either.