Primate’s vision: Kicking ass and flinging poo. That sounds about right since immediately upon pressing play you are sucked into a delightfully heavy blend of raw vocals, punk riffs, ska drum grooves, hardcore bass playing and grindcore mentality. Primate have come to kick your ass as fast as possible. Draw Back A Stump is ten songs in just 20 minutes, leaving little to the imagination. Primate puts out everything that they are and what they set out to be. This is a thrashing soundtrack, you cannot help but bang your head or move your body. Draw Back A Stump is a whiskey fueled good time and much more.
From front to back there really is no slowing down, Draw Back A Stump is constantly in your face. Even when the riffs ring out you still have Dave Whitworth on bass holding down low end riffs and Shayne Huff demolishing his drum kit. Riffs coming out of Bill Kelliher and Mike Brennan make for a brutal time and vocalist Kevin Sharp keeps it nice n raw with his great delivery. They all come together to create a rather modernized old school sound. Within 20 minutes you’re treated to many genres of metal, from sludge to grind, and they do it really well and write very fun songs.
One of my personal favorites is “Drinking and Driving“, which just reminds me of how my personal life was ran about 5 years ago. The rest of the songs are all pretty damn good. It’s furious and I highly recommend giving it one, two or three good listens. It’s done really well and the production sounds real. I always felt like I was with them listening to them in their practice space. It’s not artificial at all and I appreciate that.
I’d say with all of what is right with this, there are some negative’s about it. The music is good, really good….it’s just as if it’s been used before. Nothing is truly breathtaking in terms of longevity. You probably won’t be listening to this next year or even later this year. Yes, it’s heavy. Yes, it’s good. It’s just nothing special. Nothing on this record will get stuck in my head and make me want to re-visit Draw Back A Stump. I have no real reason to listen to this album after a couple of times. I already get the message, I don’t find anything new and no matter how many times I listen to it, nothing sticks with me. Just the one song “Drinking and Driving” and that’s not enough for me to repeat the album over and over.
Good album….but not great.
3 out of 5
