“Desert rock from the sun stricken soil of Austin,” Greenbeard unfurled its QOTSA quotient on an eponymous 2014 debut: monolith riffs and Gibraltar rock. Primitive sonics left Chance Parker’s clean, lordly vox decidedly unintegrated, but that improved on the next year’s sativa-soaked Stoned at the Throne. Third full-length Lödarödböl conjoins the two, only not really. More’s the case that both are better produced. Overseen in Seattle by Matt Bayles, onetime Minus the Bear keyboardist turned studio owner (Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Mastodon, Isis), the local trio’s thick chug and cutting guitar streamlines vise tight. Eight-minute sunspot “Lanesplitter” begins like a PG version of Alice in Chains, with another frying, yet sanitized solo, then moves into multiple sections of uncluttered desert prog that rise and fall epic but never pretentious. A Josh Homme-esque mover and groover down to its title, “Young Concussion” precedes Parker’s voice taking the elevator down a floor to “Love Has Passed by Me,” a shrugging thrust that’s easy and sure. Its psych-y twang is its charm, and Lödarödböl‘s sleeper repeater. Closer “Wyrm” never quite justifies its 10 minutes, but Greenbeard has otherwise spread its dragon wings.
This article appears in November 24 • 2017.
