Dead Meadow

Dead Meadow's fifth album doesn't sound like much of a departure. Everything is still heavy, swampy and more psychedelic than the lysergic excretions of Colorado River toads. But acoustic numbers like the loose and stringy "Seven Seers" suggest the band has been listening to Six Organs Of Admittance and attending those indie hippie folk festivals in the woods of Big Sur. Jason Simon's guitar displays more taste and finesse throughout, and his near-nihilistic, can't-be-bothered-vocals could easily be mistaken for those of Spacemen 3-era Jason Pierce.