Blacktop

Stepping away from the Gories, Mick Collins jumps into the more reverb rock-oriented Blacktop, an outfit with all the feeling of spongy, hot asphalt baking under the Southern sun. These soulful, gritty, humid songs will cause you to break out in a sweat as Collins' unmistakable raspy, stomping voice punctuates the dense, distorted guitars. It's impossible not to compare any band Collins is involved with to the Gories, the band who helped define not only Collins' career, but also Garage Rock in the 1990s. Whereas the Gories were a stark, noisy, howling three-piece, Blacktop layer their songs with fuzzed-out, reverb-drenched, distorted guitars and wailing backing vocals, all to stunning effect.