Article By: Brian Halsey ‡ Edited By: Leanne Ridgeway
Eldemur Krimm… I Googled the band hoping to find a potential origin of the namesake. I can’t tell you what it means to them, but I can tell you what it means to me; a whole lot of rocking the fuck out.
Portland, Maine’s Eldemur Krimm plays an old-school style of heavy bluesy, psychedelic, rock ‘n roll that will have you bonding with your dad over beers and banging your head shamelessly at the same time. Fred Dodge (guitar and lead vocals), Neil Collins (guitar), Jason Marshall (bass), and Stefen Samuels (drums) unleashed a nonstop jamfest of fun riffs and energetic heavy rock in their March 2017 release of ‘Dirigo‘, on Stone Groove Records.
“Elephant Gun” is the type of triumphant opener that guarantees you will be singing along and shredding air guitar no matter who is in the room. “Quitter” is a happy-go-lucky groove that reinforces an eternally priceless concept; spitters are quitters.
‘Dirigo’ was recorded at Musicbox Studios in Springvale, Maine, produced by Eldemur Krimm, engineered by Dave Tarbox, and mastered by Colin Decker at MWorks Boston, and released by Stone Groove Records.
Let me just take a moment to reinforce the fact that at some point during this album, you will most certainly put one foot on top of a kitchen chair while pretending it’s an amp, and start ripping air guitar. Eldemur Krimm will do that to you. The band is said to have formed in 1989 but didn’t make things official until 2001, when Samuels was added on drums. WHAT?
Twelve years in limbo, but I’m not even mad, because I couldn’t crank out an album like ‘Dirigo’ in 1200 years, so it’s all good, but way to take your sweet time, fellas. I challenge anyone to play this album and say they didn’t goddamn enjoy it. The “Dog Star” and “Crash” songs close out the ‘Dirigo’ album as strong as it started.
The next time you see some grizzly looking dude, with a savage mustache, rocking a sleeveless denim vest and no shirt, passed out in a puddle of his own whiskey vomit, due him a favor and blast some Eldemur Krimm. He’ll wake back up like some spaced-out, metalhead zombie and start raging all over again. Grab a copy at the Eldemur Krimm Bandcamp.
Party on Wayne… and everyone else who is definitely about to listen! (You can also watch the video below of a full live Eldemur Krimm set recorded last Fall.)
DIRIGO – Tracklist:
01. Elephant Gun
02. Black Fog
03. Quitter
04. H-Bomb Queen
05. Chopper
06. Alabaster
07. Mahogany Skin
08. Astronaut
09. Chopper Reject
10. Dog Star
11. Crash
