Hazard County Girls - Divine Armor
(2006, Rev'd Up Records)
Straight outta bayou country, these three ladies power things up with pounding drums, sultry vocals and gut crunching riffage. After losing their bass player to Nashville Pussy and endless delays resulting from that Katrina storm, Hazard County Girls finally have their second full length release out for people to hear. The result is a mixed bag of fuzz, melody and old fashioned fanny kicking.
Having made the rounds opening for the likes of Hank lll and Rasputina you know to expect an ominous, southern gothic brooding to their sound. Add to that some heavy fuzz with steady mid-tempo riffs and you've got some pulsing black magic melodies to make the stoners happy. Although they seem to be labelled a "female Black Sabbath", Hazard County Girls actually sound more like a doom rock version of Throwing Muses.
Christy Kanes' raspy voice has a darkly coy sensuality and for all the attention paid to pounding drums and chug-a-chugging guitars there is a remarkable amount of melody on Divine Armor. Songs like "Fine Lines" and "Insect" take the band's driving darkness into more restrained and melodic territory with stunning results.
Unfortunately the album does drag occasionally in its second half as some of the more unremarkable tracks go on a couple minutes too long with few dynamic changes. That being said, Divine Armor's high points thankfully overwhelm those few low ones.
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