Alternative Country might be quite a strange term to some, as the 2 styles aren't often thought of as complementary, however the genre has thrived for more than a decade. While Uncle Tupelo, Blue Mountain, Drive-By Truckers & The Jayhawks may be more well known & more conventional; they lack the menace of 16 Horsepower & no better example of that exists than their spellbinding debut,
Sackcloth 'n' Ashes. The ever present banjo & shuffling beats root the album in country, but the band explores distant territory seemingly drifting in & out of conscious country, & into stark landscapes of wooden shacks with skulls on the porch & dead men strewn across the prairie, all the while drenched in strong malt whiskey. A few departures are the bandoneón driven, Swans-esque plod of
Harm's Way, the slight Rockabilly stylings of
Red Neck Reel & the uncomfortably stark closing number
Strong Man. But the meat & potatoes of the album are held together with crazed Bluegrass, dark Southern Rock & the ever present pained cry of one David Eugene Edwards. All in all, the most twisted take on country likely to grace your ears, but hauntingly memorable & truly magical in the most bizarre way.
Best Tracks: Black Soul Choir, Scrawled in Sap, American Wheeze & Strong Man
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