Bones, Sons of Sleaze

Their self-titled debut album floored me to a degree. It fit right in with the then fresh wave of New Old School Death Metal that was (and sort of still is) on the rise. But the twelve songs on their sophomore album, Sons of Sleaze see Chicago’s Bones heading in a different direction. The release isn’t really of the sophomore slump variety, it’s just different.

Yes, there is still a healthy dose of buzzing, death metal riffage, but there’s now also a pile of scuzzy sludge and a monstrous Lair of the Minotaur presence. This ain’t all a bad thing to tell you the truth, but it’s also not what I was expected for their second offering. That said, album opener “Poisoned Breed” is a monster of a song. It’s one of the hardest charging, chugging tracks and, if more of the album were like it, I’d be singing a slightly different tune in this review.

“13” sees the infection of a bastard off-shoot of Motorhead and Lair of the Minotaur fucking a fallen angel. It’s a grimey song that is covered in a film of seething crust. “Frozen Vein” fully embraces this change in sound as the guys slowly make their way through a variety of tempo shifts, rabid screams and buzzing riffage. But it’s also the point where the album sort of loses its way a bit and a touch of monotony set in. The meat of the album, aside from the raucous “Suicide” and the blistering “100 Lies,” sort of fades into the background. That is, until “Mindfucked.”

Man, “Mingfucked” is another of those non-stop songs that’s ragged at the edges and violent as all get out. It’s one of the stand-out tracks on Sons of Sleaze and is faithfully followed by the equally awesome (and even crustier) “647 Bastards.” This last song of original material — the album ends with a solid interpretation of Terrorizer’s “Fear of Napalm” — is dense and so layered in buzzing textures that it’s like a two ton Africanized killer bee just lodged itself in your right ear, hell bent on doing some damage.

Bones certainly don’t have a clunker here with Sons of Sleaze, but it’s also not quite up to par with their debut full-length. Maybe I’m being picky, I don’t know. Regardless, there are still some solid songs on the album and should be worth your while, at least until they get started on their third studio release.