Band:	Bask
Album:	American Hollow
Style:	Post-metal, Psychedelic rock, Stoner rock
Release date:	July 29, 2014
A review by:	tea[m]ster

01. High Mountain Pass
02. American Hollow
03. Land Of The Sky
04. Shake The Soot From Your Boots
05. A Man's Worth
06. Endless Summer

American Hollow is a prime example of what I like in my doom/psychedelic/stoner music today. A foundation consisting of a lively mix of groove and rhythmic sludge/stoner riffs and tremolo picked guitars (not in the traditional black metal sense but from a post-rock angle) to dense bass and squeaky clean drumming to finally, really elegant clean singing that weaves it's way through an atmosphere that's suppressing and haunting. Together, these components result in an album built vividly and harmonious, and the talent is apparent as boasted within the scope of the songs. To make American Hollow even better, there is a bit of convolution in it's infrastructure.

That vista being the Americana aura American Hollow transmits and uses extensively. It's no wonder because Bask are from North Carolina and after listening to American Hollow I half-expected there to be a picture of a banjo or the confederate flag in the album liner notes. I'm quite sure I haven't heard anything like it. Most of the songs are really anthems, drawing on a retro-classic southern Americana folk theme - a well thought out endeavor that lends a helping hand in the direction of nuance and accessibility. Beautifully balanced in the dynamics of heavy moments to melody, you can hear how Bask engender melodic influences from the deep south and rural country. It's more or less their trademark on the genre and it's undeniably both infectious and innovative.

American Hollow could be associated with being a hard rock album. The sentimental clean singing is perfectly suited for the granular music and is a key counterpart to the layered guitars and Baroness-esque melodic tendencies. The arrangements are purposeful and coherent, and, in fact, the whole album is designed to play nice with skillfully enhanced retro moments, soulful interludes and proper parts of today's trendy euphonious modern elements. The experimentation that Bask attempts is from the heart and, even better, done successfully.