Kyuss
Wretch

THE REVIEW

If Black Sabbath and Pink Floyd could have given birth to a bastard, they would have named it Kyuss.

A creature born in the heart of the nineties, awkward, hallucinated, and even a dwarf, on the shoulders of that giant which the seventies represented for rock. But there's more. Homme and company were never original. They even copied artworks (and the omission of all kinds of references in the booklets) from Led Zeppelin. Just to cut to the chase, we'll add that they never even possessed great technical-executive talent. And just when the Nirvana typhoon (following the aforementioned dictats) was about to bury a genre once and for all, “Blues For The Red Sun” (1992) appeared. That's how Homme, Garcia, and that other brain-dead junkie Olivieri, decided to (re)teach us to live so we could hurt ourselves, leaving aside the tedious stories about the pain of living.

“Wretch” (1991) unfortunately, doesn't reach their more high-sounding masterpieces (which were alas all extensively reviewed). It's an album that testifies to the absurd path of this band, starting from an overused hard 'n' heavy with “hatfieldian” echoes, and “evolved backward” to mature a retro-artistic verve upon which they founded a (sub)genre: Stoner. Ironically, it's now Metallica that emulate them: some tracks from “St. Anger” could easily enter into this “Wretch” (and vice versa). A transitional stage, then, with which the band allowed themselves time to grow. The impulse (at times an end in itself) of tracks like “The Law”, “Son Of A Bitch”, and “Love Has Passed Me By” prove it. The approach of “Isolation” and “I’m Not”, supported by the classic four-four kick-snare made in U.S.A. (if brought by a Yankee even the tempo can take on rough connotations, at least for yours truly), will later be revived by Garcia's Unida. In “Stage III” some more experimental hints begin to emerge, though almost as an outlet. The same could be said of “Deadly Kiss”.

Based on the sounds and pieces that “Wretch” contains, the desert and hallucinogenic element that characterizes the band will later be grafted. The formula is not yet complete then, missing the “fifth element”. That is producer Chris Goss, who will soften and refine the sharpness of the cutting Les Pauls on this album.

Anyway, despite its small size, even “Wretch” contributed to delaying the celebrations for rock's funeral by a few years. Everyone always counts it out, but so far it's buried everyone, even that fool Cobain.