Gruntruck
Inside Yours

The Gruntruck, with only 2 albums and a tour alongside Pantera and Alice in Chains during their Dirt period, emerge from the Seattle underground and secure a place among all those Grunge bands that, despite being very musically gifted, were underestimated and ignored by record labels. (Like Tad, for example).

Grunge music is hard to define; however, Gruntruck presents sounds very close to Heavy Metal, heavily influenced by Alice in Chains but especially by Soundgarden. The singer/guitarist Ben McMillan indeed hits certain high notes that aren’t the same but are very similar to those of the great Cornell (this can be especially heard in track 3, “Paint”); the heavily distorted guitar parts and the typical dirty and cavernous bass sound greatly remind one of Chris’s band during the Badmotorfinger era.

The broken rhythms of “Eyes of stone,” the slow heaviness of the near-stoner title track, the distorted epicness of "Move in silence," and the schizophrenic rhythm of “Flesh fever” describe particularly angry and dark atmospheres that permeate throughout the album. Another noteworthy track is Melt, which seems to hint at a small dose of melody only to “disappoint” the listener, with that metallic Hard Rock reminiscent of Black Sabbath that both stupefies and impresses on the first listen. As I previously mentioned, the band supported Alice in Chains on their tour, gaining decent success. Ben McMillan died of diabetes in 2002, after attempting an impossible reunion, and the music of these 4 angry Americans would be forgotten.

In all eleven tracks of Inside Yours, one can perceive that resigned rebellion, that suffocated rage typical of Seattle bands, a city which quickly became the center of the world’s Rock scene, only to be swiftly forgotten.

If you are passionate about Grunge and have admired the great Cornell’s Soundgarden, Jerry Cantrell and Layne Staley’s Alice in Chains, I recommend listening to Gruntruck and Inside Yours.