Well May turned out to be one of surprises on the album review front for yours truly. First up was Thunderstone, and their rather spiffing ‘Tools of Destruction’ album – a contemporary Scandinavian take on Dio inspired classic rock. Then of course this one; GZR’s, Ohmwork. 

For those who don’t know GZR is basically legendary Black Sabbath bassist, Geezer Butler’s abbreviated moniker for his solo projects. This is his third one to date, so our Geezer’s not exactly been prolific. The first two are said to be a bit patchy – a journo’s copout phrase for the fact that they didn’t like them, but didn’t want to offend either! Not that you’ll get any of that pretentious crap from me. 

Anyway, non of this will ever stop Sabs’ diehards from buying anything related to the band, but I wonder what many will think of this excellent release. It is far removed from Sabbath and has more in common with Zak Wylde’s, Black Label Society, ‘Mafia’ album than anything. It certainly has the same arse-shredding guitar sound, if not the widdly, widdly bits. 

But who needs widdly, widdly bits when you have songs of this quality. Guitarist, Pedro Howse (no I’m not kidding; but who ever heard of a Mr. House?!) does a brilliant job in keeping it all real. This is detuned mayhem for the 21^st century masses and you soon forget ol’ Geezer has anything to do with it. 

Ok, so I lied about being pretentious, ‘detuned mayhem for the 21^st century masses’…what’s that all about? Dunno. It just sort of popped out. But how else can you describe something so modern sounding from a member of Black Sabbath? Clearly Geezer’s got his finger on the pulse but with the best will in the world I wasn’t expecting something so vital and fresh.  

Yet that is to ignore the fact that Geezer has always been the driving force in Sabbath. The creative energy (pretentious alert…here I go again) that drove the Brummie metallers to the top of the tree… then out of their trees, if any of Ozzy’s stories are to be believed. 

Where Geezer’s been really clever here is to work with contemporary sounding musician’s that can bring his ideas to fruition (you don’t get words like that in Kerrrung – or whatever you call it these days). Vocalist, Clark Brown, brings real aggression to songs like ‘Pseudocide’ and the superb ‘Misfit’. Whilst ‘Prisoner 103’ is very hardcore. Indeed at times you can’t help but wonder if Brown had an industrial sized bottle of TCP handy whilst laying down the vocals. He really lets rip.

All in all ‘Ohmwork’ is one of the surprise releases of the year so far. Butler never tries to steal the show. And the other guys are simply left to bring the whole thing to life. If you enjoyed Black Label’s recent ‘Mafia’ album then check this out. This is contemporary, hardcore metal with just enough of a nod towards the past to keep everyone happy.

Let us know your views on 'Ohmwork'

Track List

Misfit
Pardon My Depression
Prisoner 103
I Believe
Aural Sects
Pseudocide
Pull The Strings
Alone
Dogs Of Whore
Don't You Know

Line Up

Clark Brown - vocals
Peter Howse - Guitar
Geezer Butler - Bass
Chad Smith - Drums