Article By: Pat ‘Riot’ Whitaker & Leanne Ridgeway
It has been a couple of months since RVA’s I Am The Liquor served up their new offering, ‘7 Days Of Smoke‘. The seven-song slab of thick riff-driven rock and roll recently landed on my radar and I couldn’t be happier. I say that because I was a big fan of their 2015 self-titled full length and am stoked there’s now a follow-up.
I wasn’t alone in my excitement about the new album either. Riff Relevant Editor Leanne Ridgeway had her own take on it, as well. So, since two brilliant minds are better than a single iffy, mediocre one, we both have our say about things below.
Leanne: A sly lil’ Looperbird** just dropped a song on my windowsill. I Am The Liquor has self-released a new full-length album over on their Bandcamp page recently, named ‘7 Days Of Smoke‘. I Am The Liquor hails from Richmond, VA, and has been around a couple/few years now. Their previous self-titled full length was released just shy of two years ago, and this latest effort is a welcome return ticket to their Mid-Atlantic booze cruise.
Terry Smith (vocals, guitar), Sean Plunkett (bass), and Cody Mausolf (drums) give us a sobering display of riff-hurling heavy fuzz rock here, with some clean and, dare I say, sultry vocal tones exuding from Terry’s pipes. Sean and Cody are certainly no drunken slouches, driving and battering the low-end to its limit for nearly the full 40-ish minutes. This is that sexy stuff I love to listen to…
With seven stimulating songs and some sozzled skeletal cover art by Brian Pickens of 3rdOptics, ‘7 Days Of Smoke‘ is a heavy, hazy, heated week-long cruise down a rampant raging coastline. You better pack a full goddamned cooler; these gents are thirsty.
**(‘Looperbird’ is a friend of mine named Josh, kind enough to send me a link to IATL’s release. – Leanne)
Pat Riot: The trio that evidently finds themselves whiskey-drenched within I Am The Liquor, Terry Smith (Vocals/Guitar), Sean Plunkett (Bass), and Cody Mausolf (Drums) have matured well it would seem. On their new opus, they quickly set the tone with some hard-hitting numbers right off the line, “The Gallows” and “Balerion“. Riveting southern-natured riffs abound and discharge like a double-barrel shotgun amid some head-spinning rhythms.
Other cuts like “The Hound” or “Destroyer Of Worlds” explore some doomier realms and contain some stellar vocal performances. Then there are full-on dives into some grunge-tinged tones on the incredible “Sands Of Time“, as well as some psychedelia flavoring in “100 Thousand Million Stars“.
In closing, it is safe to say that the underground rock scene is thriving when you happen across a good band like I Am The Liquor or a great album like ‘7 Days Of Smoke‘. It’s a diversified, versatile outing that’s well worth checking out in the Bandcamp stream below.
I Am The Liquor also has an upcoming live show date, supporting Wasted Theory on their ‘Defenders Of The Riff’ Tour date in Richmond, VA at Wonderland on May 6th, along with Freedom Hawk.
