Buffalo Crows
Bovonic Empire

As hybrids go I think there can’t be many that trumps the Buffalo Crow in terms of strangeness, with its feathered four-legged buffalo body that has some large wings and a crow’s face with the black beak and its horns making any observer very disturbed. Not the kind of thing you would like to meet on your way to the Bovonic Empire, although it is apparently an inspiring creature for some. Australians who call themselves Buffalo Crows must be somewhat inspired by such a creature, enough to call themselves that at the very least. This is the first time I cross paths with them but they have released two albums previously to this, their third album Bovonic Empire.

It is a ten-track album that seems to be placed in the stoner rock category with influences from southern rock, psych and street punk. It offer punchy guitars, lots of harmonica, some hoarse vocals and much power as well as variations. Kind of a raw sounding album, I like the production as it fits their style very well. The use of guest musicians makes the vocals more dynamic over the album as well, adding to the sense of variation that makes a 56-minute album feel like it passes in a shorter amount of time. I would say that the overall sense is that it is a good album; I find it to be rather entertaining.

One has to admit though that it hardly offers up anything new to the world of music as it is quite clear where they draw inspiration and they don’t really make a secret of it in their press material as well. That has to be one thing that lowers my rating a little bit. I also think that it is an album you need to play a few times as I didn’t like it at all at first but it has grown on me, even though I probably never will appoint it hit album of the year I have still enjoyed playing through it quite a few times. But I do believe that you have to be a big fan of this kind of music to really get anything out of what it has to offer.

The problem for these guys is the sheer amount of music that is being released today, you have to offer something completely different or completely outstanding to really make an impact and I don’t think they do. They deliver a very solid and good album that I fear will be lost in the never-ending pile of albums that are being released each and every day, but maybe the war-cry of the mighty Buffalo Crow is enough to find them an audience.

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