Hey kids, take another hit off that bong and tell your mother you love her, because Eldemur Krimm and their new album “Dirigo” is here to kick your fucking ass. Featuring straight up, balls-to-the-wall speed metal and breakneck Iron Maiden-esque guitar riffs, Eldemur Krimm is Portland’s finest hard rock attraction.
The music is livid and undeniably powerful. It’s like Metallica, Slayer, and Rob Zombie drinking Jim Beam and beating the crap out of each other in a vomit-stained Motel 6 near the interstate, much to the dismay of the scrawny hotel manager. Their gritty power chord-laden rock and growling, furious lyrical style instills a looming urge to break things, expensive things.
Eldemur Krimm was formed in 1989, but they like to think of their official start as when they added their drummer, Stefen Samuels, in 2001. The rest of the band includes Fred Dodge (guitar and vocals), Neil Collins (guitar), and Jason Marshall (bass).
The band began getting recognition almost immediately after Samuels joined, when they opened for Quitter at the now-defunct Portland club The Skinny. Pretty soon the boys of Krimm were playing The Middle East in Boston, the stomping grounds for the biggest rock bands in New England. The band plans to tour in Europe eventually, they say, “even if we have to fucking swim there.”
The vocal style of Eldemur Krimm is growling and ominous. Fred Dodge snarls the contentiously crude and lascivious lyrics with reckless abandon. Each chorus is echoed with the furious guitar lines, as if to back up the message behind the lyrics.
“Elephant Gun” opens the album on a high note. The band hits the ground running with a powerful intro and a chorus that consists simply of Dodge bellowing “Elephant Gun!” The song sets a pace the band upholds throughout most of the record.
Almost every song features a ripping, acid rock guitar solo that will make you want to headbang for hours on end like Wayne and Garth from “Wayne’s World.” The fourth track, “H-Bomb Queen,” takes on a trippy, almost whimsical quality while also demonstrating the band’s ability to jam.
The album does slow down a bit, but that’s OK. The last song on the album, “Crash,” lets off on the gas just a little bit to don a sort of Primus-like swagger. The vocals in this song are similar to Les Claypool’s style, but the song soon heats up again and the band begins the high-speed jamming anew. The album concludes in a fiery peak of guitar solos and a destructive, crescendoed climax: a suitable ending.
The only problem I had with “Dirigo” was the difficulty in understanding Dodge’s lyrics. It’s not a big problem with bands like this to be able to understand every lyric, but it was a small annoyance when I tried to discern some meaning from the pure, adrenaline rock that is Eldemur Krimm.
All in all, “Dirigo” is one of the better hard rock albums to come out in the area for a while. Any fans of rock or metal should definitely check it out.
Eldemur Krimm’s new album is available on the band’s website, www.eldemurkrimm.com, and at any of their shows. They will perform with The Horror this Thursday night at The Big Easy, 55 Market St. in Portland. Call 871-8817 for information.
Jon Blood can be contacted at [email protected]