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December 9, 2024


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Gravelpit
History: Mission & Tradition (Schizophonic Records)

By: Alex Steininger

It seems that everyone with a guitar these days is trying to be in a band. Some are very successful, some are hideous, and others are mediocre. Gravelpit is another garage-band to add to the list of many. While other Northwest bands prefer to sit on the job (Pearl Jam), Gravelpit works hard and puts a lot of themselves into their music. This four peace from Portland, Oregon is loud, heavy, and full of screams, demons, and deep thoughts.

Their latest CD for one of Portland's biggest indie labels (Schizophonic Records), History: Mission & Tradition, is just a bunch of noise. They work hard at what they do, but they must be doing something wrong. Big screams come from the guitar, while the bass works its way around each song. The drums keep the time very accurately, and everything seems nice and neat. Every detail is looked after, the lyrics are deep and thought provoking (just the way I love them), but the end result isn't something to find it's way up the charts. And with good reason. I see this album as just a lot of noise. Sure, they have some good songs like "Valley", and "Gnu" which carry a more pop-oriented, lighter rock feeling to them. But overall, it comes out as just a bunch of moaning, screaming, loud noise, and tragic misfires that could have been, but aren't.

With fourteen tracks you should be able to find something you like, but overall it is fairly disappointing. If your a Gravelpit fan, you might find this album very indulging. If your an indie rock collector, you might even want to check out this band. But for the vast majority of everyone, this album falls flat and never recovers. Even in it's good times it can't fight off the other bad moments to break even. I'll give this album a D.

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