Various Artists

Extremely Sorry

[3/5]



Extremely Sorry doesn’t sound like the soundtrack to a skateboarding movie. Of course, there’s no rule that shredtastic action needs to happen to music that sounds like JFA or Suicidal Tendencies. Indeed, there’s nothing particularly high-tempo on the entire disc. That said, there are quite a few unusual choices that either revitalize or mar the recording, depending on one’s perspective. This is especially true of the instrumental tracks. “When Is Now” opens with a delicate flamenco-style acoustic guitar before segueing into a dark synthetic throb that could be the music bed for a Rob Zombie tune. The tribal percussive throb and moaning modalities of “Desert Convoy” definitely invokes the Middle East, but seems more appropriate to an Africanized STOMP show than a skateboarding movie. On the other hand, “Lead The Storm” invokes a raging surf style with an electro-addled pipeline producing a big, tasty curl, and the gothic malevolent beat of the following track, “Ignition,” maintains the momentum.



If the instrumental numbers are something of a mixed bag, the vocal tracks are much more encouraging. The exception is the opening cover of “Stand By Me” featuring Motörhead’s Lemmy Kilmister and Slayer’s Dave Lombardo. The incredibly pointless, reverent take adds little more than you’d expect from any drunk at your local bar’s karaoke night. The other album efforts are much more rewarding. Former Pennywise frontman Jim Lindberg effectively helms the raving, block-rocking electronic track “Scream My Name,” though his contribution’s relatively small, and Mack Winston heads the trippy, appropriately titled track, “Love Shroom,” which takes cues from Sgt. Pepper’s and Magical Mystery Tour-era Beatles.



However, the real highlights are only meted out at the end of the album. Black Mountain channel an ominous, industrial psych-tinged groove on “The End Of The Beginning,” sounding like the dark smoke rising from a California wildfire. It’s well matched to the subsequent shoegazing of ((Sounder))’s “Burn Out Like Fireflies,” which grows and recedes over an infectious, initially acoustic riff. Early Man produce the album’s hardest rocking track, “The Process Of Extinction,” though it doesn’t stretch the confines of their NWOBHM stoner crunch.



Extremely Sorry is a generally entertaining 15-track mix that starts a little slowly and flags a bit in the middle before closing strongly with the final four songs. It’s not a typical skateboarding soundtrack, but we’ll give them points for the originality of their approach, which definitely makes it a better living room listen than the more monochromatic sounds you might expect. (VOLCOM ENTERTAINMENT) Chris Parker



GO DOWNLOAD: Black Mountain’s “The End Of The Beginning”