Flood-Native

Meteor City
2009

San Francisco’s Flood is a psychedelic/stoner/doom outfit that focuses on the heart of their music. There are several moments including the beginning minutes of the mammoth opener “Aphelion” where this band comes on more like a trickle than a flood. The music oftentimes creeps out as they pull each note out and the ever so slowly push it forward and let the echoes seep into your ears. The pace picks up some, but never too much. The style isn’t far off from early Electric Wizard or Sleep’s “Dopesmoker”. Except Flood are not quite as dark as those bands. They rely less on distortion and more on direct punches. There is a certain stripped-down even slightly under produced quality on “Native”. As I listened them reel out “Atlantis”, I could almost imagine myself being in some dimly lit basement watching this band figure this song out as they go. Flood manages a spontaneous feel on occasion as solos and odd beats pop up at expected moments. Like towards the end of the above mentioned “Atlantis” they even rise up to a level of mid-tempo bashing for a few seconds. There are a few tedious moments here and there particularly a few opening moments. Considering the album is only four songs and over forty minutes that’s not too bad. What I liked most was that the wheels never cease turning for this band. Even when just cranking out a note or two at a time, they are still working their way towards progressing the song. They also eventually work some smooth rhythms into the prevailing sludge here and there. That just adds to the appeal of this disc. Not something I am going to listen to every day, but when I am in the mood I can definitely see sitting back and letting “Native” ooze out of my stereo’s speakers.