BROOZER ‘II’ Album Review.

Words Jackyboy.

I remember the first time I saw Broozer at The Prague’s first birthday. They were supporting Blood Duster, and were on around the same time as the then-fledgling Melbourne metal band King Parrot. In 2013 they launched their debut album ’12.04.12’ and have since toured Australia scoring a number of festival slots and supporting international acts such as Earthless, The Shrine and Kylesa.

‘12.04.12’ was a fucking ball breaker. One of my favorite albums to come out Melbourne, it’s heavy and original and so much fun to listen to. Listening to Broozer is like watching a horror movie, the riffs, vocals and drums playing on your expectations creeping up on you for the big scare. The painstaking detail in the song writing and production made an album I still can’t put down. This week I got my grubby little mitts on a preview of Broozer’s second release titled simply ‘II’.

The album opens, a choir crescendos, apes scream in confusion and Dario Amati’’s first beats ring in the opening song, I Don’t Dare Look at the Sun. The rhythm is staccato and unpredictable and the vocals stumble and lurch through the score where they can find a foothold. The track gains pace and tension until it suddenly breaks into a slow sludgy metal bridge, dragging me along with it while I try and anticipate the next change in vain. The second number, As the Corpse Lumbered to the Floor, begins with a rattling of drums and descending guitar riffs appropriate to the song title. Retch Bile’s lyrics provide a narration through Broozer’s next nightmarish conception. In comparison to ’12.04.12’ this album is a step in the right direction for Broozer, not straying from their unmistakable sound, technically sophisticated and ridiculously heavy. No Desire, No Pain is my favourite; more of a straight up doom metal feel, reminiscent of High on Fire and Bison BC.

While the local talent too often rehash tried and true approaches, a band that gives you something great and really different is a fucking rare thing, and deserve to be put on a pedestal. Broozer brings such a defined sound of complex crushing metal, teamed up with schizophrenic rhythm structures and bleak, misanthropic themes; and most importantly, you can’t fit them to a genre. They’ve made original music that’s fucking cool, didn’t shit the bed when it came to recording, and they’ve done it twice. Bravo fellas. Bravo.

Follow them on Facebook. Go to their shows (they have some coming up). Keep an eye out for the launch date, it’s going to be epic.

Broozer’s ‘II’ album is set for digital and physical pre-order release Fri 12 June, 2015.

Broozer: Site // Facebook // Reverbnation // Twitter // Bandcamp // Soundcloud.