Reviewed on 22nd June 2004.

Made Great By A Breeze

By Desert Monkey

Starting off with the title track sounding like a rougher Kyuss with furious bluesy guitar riffage and fat drums, Desert Monkey are looking like quite the heads down, balls to the wall rock band. Although Josh Homme & Nick Oliveri these guys ain't.

'Balance' sounds more like stoner rock vs. early Chili Peppers, with that soaring chorus and crunchy guitar, but juxtaposed with verses that sound, well, pretty crap in comparison to be honest. Half funk, half almost- blues riffing and stop-start drums really don't do the rest of the song justice. Chop out that verse, and then we'll talk.

'Terpsichorean' is more 80s cock rock than anything, with its busy guitar work and snazzy leads which seem to scream of Bon Jovi or endless noodle meisters Steve Vai, etc. It's OK for what it is I suppose, and will probably impress your dad or older brother who thought Status Quo were the height of guitar playing, but gets pretty old quickly.

And so we enter the last song, 'Easylong'. Gentle guitar riffs are replaced with fast paced funky stabs, which are then replaced with heavy guitar chords. Repeat this, tack on an outro and you're pretty much there.

Fans of early Chili Peppers (that is to say the people who think Flea should have more time to do bass solos) or people who thought Kyuss would make a good funk rock band will probably enjoy, but for me, it's not my cup o' tea I'm afraid. Bruce Dickinson would probably like it though.