Legend of The Seagullmen ‘Legend of the Seagullmen’ Review: quirky alt-metal supergroup release nautical-themed album. 

[rating=4]

Metal listeners tend to be wary of supergroups. More often than not, such bands can suffer the too many cooks in the kitchen effect, leading to a muddy vision.

But after a pair of demos leaked in 2015 from Legend of the Seagullmen, a group featuring heavyweights like guitarist Brent Hinds (Mastodon), drummer Danny Carey (Tool), Peter Griffin (Dethlok), Jonah Hex director (and band mastermind) Jimmy Hayward and vocalist David “The Doctor” Dreyer, fans took notice.

The group (who came together after QOTSA’s Josh Homme introduced Hinds to Hayward) are readying their self-titled debut (out February 9 on Dine Alone Records), and the album, which Hayward dubs a “nautical spaghetti western” lives up to its bizarre descriptor.

Things kick off with We Are The Seagullmen, a mission statement with an atmospheric intro with cinematic sound effects that give way to a thundering riff and Dreyer’s drunken pirate vocals.

The Fogger is a beast of a tune, fitting given its lyrics about some fictional aquatic monster who “feasts on the souls in the seas they patrol,” and the song’s lumbering riff feels like a collision of Mastodon and Faith No More funneled through a Goth prism. Likewise Orca, brings to mind Leviathan-era Mastodon.

While the album is definitely tongue-in-cheek, it sidesteps any notion of a novelty record, its outlandish concept beefed up through its solid compositions and musical vision, which manages to be both eclectic and organic.

Shipswreck is a case in point, which blends prog keyboards and vocals that recall late Type O Negative frontman Peter Steele, and highlighted by a rip-roaring solo from Hinds, while the title track takes the biggest departure, which has a frenetic punk energy and infectious chorus, with Carey’s drums at full-metal-bombast.

At times the group even channels Nick Cave, as heard on the orchestral flourishes of Curse of the Red Tide, and closing track Ballad of the Sea Deep Diver, an absolutely mythic track that truly espouses “nautical spaghetti western” with an Ennio Morricone flavored outro.

At 8 tracks, Legends of the Seagullmen never overstays its welcome, it’s a quirky and immersive experience, offering theater of the mind for any adventurous metalhead who wants something a bit off the beaten path. So batten down the hatches and give in to its waterlogged charms.

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