Fiftywatthead - Fogcutter
Review by John Pegoraro (StonerRock.com)
Signed by Force Records
Release date: 2008


There are some songs that immediately take me back to when I first heard them. For instance, you put on Queen's “Radio Ga Ga” and once again I'm sitting on the floor, in front of my dad's chair, watching Friday Night Videos and Freddy Mercury's prancing around in drag and creeping me the fuck out. For better or for worse, that memory association is there for good.

Same deal with Fiftywatthead (minus the cross dressing). Now I know the Ontario group played the 2004 Emissions from the Monolith Festival. I saw 'em – hell, they were the first band of the day, so I wasn't even piss drunk yet. But until I heard Fogcutter, I couldn't tell you a damn thing about the band, except maybe that the name sounded awful familiar. And yet when lead track “Whiteout” kicked in, I was immediately taken back (“thrown” is more apt) to that Sunday afternoon, ears battered, body aching, watching some scruffy - presumably bearded and overweight - band bellowing at me from behind a wall of beautiful, blissful noise.

Coming across as a dangerous and unhealthy mix of Unsane, Keelhaul, Mastodon, Clutch, and Tummler, Fogcutter is A Statement of Riffs. The four-piece bridges metal with rock, angular, mathy riffs with deep, rolling grooves, and sets about at crushing the listener's head in with methodical precision. Songs like the title track, “Capsized,” and “Four Points,” to borrow a line from Mohammad Ali, float like butterflies and sting like a baker's dozen's worth of surface to air missiles.

That's all good and fine, but the last song, “Followed by Thunder,” is the undisputed highlight. It starts off with a sludge version of the theme of Jaws that segues into a rumbling avalanche of doom. I'm not talking about the genre – I'm saying the song makes you feel like your standing in the shadow of a lumbering behemoth who's hell bent on destroying all in its path (and who apparently also happens to be the subject matter of the song). I've been clinging to Fogcutter all week long and the solos that close out this track still gives me goosebumps. It's epic, massive, heavier than heavy, and makes the album jump from “recommended” to “highly recommended.” You need this one.

german-english translation

Fifty Watt head - Fogcutter - 1 review

Review from Björn Backes

Sinister heavy-rock jam with wonderful nasty doom- FIFTY WATT HEAD behind not only a set of power, but einees of the most promising heavy rock-ensembles, the light of the world has seen in recent years. The four-Member formation from Ontario maintains a very dirty doom sound is like merges with ingredients from the jam-rock scene in some experimental phase, but also a whole piece more Anspruich offers as relevant chapels as the BLACK LABEL SOCIETY.

Change is on the new album "Fogcutter" the right keyword and recipe for perhaps also the success, most kräftigsten benefit from the eight powerful compositions. It quite explosiv continues after the offensive opener 'Whiteout', its lush control power already first character sets. In the title song govern sinister doom guitars, 'Seadawg' marked a new standard in the band's own Heavyness and with the majestic 'Capsized', the band soghar has a supposedly catchy song at the start, which is absolutely ultra fat guitar sound. Already at half time it is clear that here is something special happening.

It is always wüster after a short rest in the dreckigen 'four points'. 'Iron clad' with its slightly dodgy sludge riffs develops to the fascinating noise trip before then in the large 'followed by Thunder' a monströser doom jam promoted, where it is not satt listening may. So alive, so warm, and to to independently - because it needs not even a 10-minute epic to reveal the incredible momentum of this volume.

Consequently among FIFTY WATT HEAD in the genre the great Hoffnungsträgern, just as regards the deft flavors of doom/sludge sounds. Here is musiziert with passion and experiments without hinauszuschießen it in any way about's destination or to leave the clearly defined sound line. The beestätigt but also a strange fact: doom remains nevertheless still a tube-issue-despite excellent bands like FIFTY WATT HEAD!

European tips: Seadawg, Capsized, followed by thunder
Björn Backes [9.1.2009]

Fiftywatthead would like to thank Absolut Metal(http://www.absolutmetal.com/AbsoTop20.htm) for naming FOGCUTTER their NUMBER ONE album of 2008. We greatly appreciate it.
 
AbsolutMetal

Top 20 of 2008



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Here they are, the 20 albums we've recieved from various labels and PR companies that we've had to pry out of the office cd player. The best of the best... 1. Fiftywatthead - Fogcutter 2. The Sword - Gods Of The Earth 3. Saviours - Into Abandon 4. Gojira - The Way Of All Flesh 5. Hackman - Enterprises 6. Metallica - Death Magnetic

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hellridemusic.com Interview
 
by Jay Snyder
April 2, 2009

Ontario's Fiftywatthead have existed for years, but somehow manage to avoid the limelight here in the states. Never have I heard anyone talking about these dudes and it's a crying shame! Friends till the end, the band has kept the same core quartet since their inception and the sound has benefited greatly from the stable line-up. They've been honing and developing their craft since their first official outing, Volume 1; a ragged, tattered beast of jerky noise-rock and thunderous doom metal leading us directly to the structurally astounding, never a dull moment wallop of its follow-up Rock n' Roll Killer. 2008 showcased the band's creative juices coming into full fruition with Fogcutter; their most accomplished work to date. Melding the unfriendly cadence of noise-rock with doom's iron will shuffle then lightly seasoning the product with true blue metal heroics, the Watt has landed. Guitarist/vocalist J Drummond drops in to give Hellride the good word!

Hellride Music: Man, I thought you guys were dead! Damn glad that isn't the case! I'm not always the best with keeping up with all the bands I love. I do my best, but sometimes it's a daunting task. What's been going on in the time between Rock n' Roll Killer and Fogcutter? Jesus, how many years was it between the two?

J Drummond: It was four years between the two CDs. Not something we planned on. We went through a lot of rehearsal space trouble and other shit that kept our momentum at a crawl.


Hellride Music: I've noticed a definite trend for you guys... it takes a little time between albums but the listener is always on the receiving end of a product that increases drastically in quality with each passing release. I know you're all longtime friends... whenever you're going into the studio to do a new record; do you have things plotted out long in advance? Is the new material perfected in the live sets, so it's easy to get it down in the studio or is the process more spontaneous than that?

J: We get bored with material really quick and a lot of stuff gets left behind. Between R'n'R Killer and Fogcutter we demo'd a western themed CD that we didn't think was strong enough, so we threw it away. Before we head to a studio, we like to have the songs down live because that's how we've always recorded them. We want our albums to sound like we do when we're jamming or playing live shows.


Hellride Music: This brings me to the focal point here... Fogcutter is a fuckin' masterpiece! The band's long existence has culminated with a highly developed set of songs; not quite sludge, not quite noise-rock and not quite prog-driven metal. Surely, it is a bit of all three, but it doesn't tread a well worn path. When did the music on the album begin to come into focus? Don't tell me you've been sitting on this stuff for the last 5 or so years, and kept it to yourself, haha!

J: It started with "Followed by Thunder". That was the first song in a couple of years after R'n'R Killer that we really believed in. Soon after that we wrote "Capsized". We started to accumulate a hand full of tunes and riffs that all seemed to fit together pretty well, when we played a show with Bionic in Oct. 07. Jonathan Cummins of Bionic was impressed with the new material and pushed Signed by Force to check us out. We ended up sending them a four tune demo which heightened their interest, so they invited us to play their label launch party at the Montreal Pop Fest. After the show, label owner Ram asked if we could have a finished product done by Feb. 08. We went home finished the writing rather quickly and recorded Fogcutter, which was released by Signed by Force in September, 2008.


Hellride Music: New tricks abound on every corner of the record. I'm hearing clearer production, a little bit of metal guitar shred and a gauntlet of the doomiest riffs I've ever heard on any of your albums. Vocals are even less distorted and much further up in the mix. Who handled production credits and was it a choice of the band to remove a bit of the excess noise and clear up the sound just a bit? Not that you sacrificed any heaviness to do it... this thing will explode eardrums for damn certain!

J: We were guilty of experimenting a little too much in the past and wanted this disc to sound like we do when we play live. So a lot of the little extras and noises were eliminated from our recording process. Tony Hamera from Tempermill Studios Ferndale, MI handled the engineering, mixing, mastering and had some good ideas for production.


Hellride Music: We've also got a stellar set of lyrics on hand. J, do you handle all the writing duties in that aspect? We're presented with some of the best nautical themes I've ever heard on album, and I'm blown away across the board. I'm a Mastodon fan for sure, but nothing they've done in that realm even touches the gritty presentation on Fogcutter. Tell us a bit about the inspiration behind ‘em, seems that they may speak on a sort of historical bent about tragic shipwrecks that may have actually happened!

J: When we were writing Fogcutter, we wrote the music first and I wrote the lyrics after. The songs we were writing all seemed to flow with one another so we decided to use a central theme to base the lyrics on. We had titles for 'Followed' and "Capsized' that were both of a nautical theme. Ben mentioned the book South with Endurance taken from the journals of Sir Ernest Shackleton and we decided to use it as the focal point for the lyrical inspiration. The story lent itself well to the songs and the other circumstances surrounding the band at the time, so we rolled with it. It really solidified the songs as a whole, and made the album stronger than if it were just a collection of directionless tunes.


Hellride Music: Do we have any hardened sea farers in Fiftywatthead, or is it a landlubber's dream band? I myself prefer solid ground!

J: Landlubbers all the way!


Hellride Music: Have reviewers perceived what you've hoped they'd hear on the album? While I've followed Mastodon for quite sometime and consider myself a fan, I'm just not getting that on Fogcutter. Hell, I saw that one review mentioned The Sword! That one is way off base to my ears. Sure, "Capsized" is the catchiest piece of work I've ever heard from the band, but it isn't really as accessible as Mastodon's catchier stuff or especially The Sword. It is definitely coming from a much, much heavier... blue collar point of view. If you could describe the record yourselves, what mix of sounds and influences are at work?

J: Everyone in the band has varying musical interests but we all obviously like heavy music and grew up with Detroit rock radio. We didn't set out to sound like any one defined sound. We like smashing riffs together and playing whatever feels good. After 10 years we think it sounds like Fiftywatthead, but people who don't know us attach it to convenient comparisons. The ones they choose seldom reflect us. Don't get me wrong, the bands they do mention are great and we're honoured to be related to them in any way.


Hellride Music: Speaking of "Capsized", what a MONSTER of a track! The lyrics were in my head after the first listen and the groove... goddamn what a groove! It reminds me of the glory days of Cavity. Is Fiftywatthead at all influenced by those dudes? Sometimes, I swear you guys are picking up the torch they once carried.

J: Honestly I live in a bubble and can't say for certain that I've even heard them. After our shows people ask us if we've heard this band or that band. I stare blankly and nod my head. I think Fiftywatthead was originally influenced by bands like The Melvins, Unsane, Jesus Lizard, Shallow North Dakota but have grown into our own over the years.


Hellride Music: You've told me that "Iron Clad" and "Last Leg" were jammed out n' recorded back to back. Good choice as the two fit together, like a hand goes in a glove. Was it a conscious decision to do this, or was the vibe just right? Did you do the whole record in one sitting, or did it take a few sessions to nail it?

J: When we would practice "Iron Clad", we'd tend to jam out on the "Last Leg" riff at the end of the song, so it naturally grew into a two part song which we split on the CD, only for easy navigation. When we recorded Fogcutter all the beds were recorded live in about two days. After that, it was a few hours of vocals and guitar solos. We wanted it to be stripped down and honest.


Hellride Music: How is the heavy music scene in Canada... is there a live audience for it? I've heard some cool stuff from up North. I'm a big Shallow North Dakota fan. Do you ever get to play with those guys? Their drummer is fucking insane... pounding out those destructive beats and bellowing with such force at the same time has got to take a lot out of a man.

J: Canada has its hot spots for heavy music scenes. Our home town Windsor Ont. has a healthy number of metal bands and fans for being a smaller city. Hamilton where Shallow ND are from is great for heavy music and is like a second home to us. We've played a ton of shows with Shallow ND but the members have formed a handful of other bands that they are focusing on these days. Party Tank and Crux of Aux are both bands featuring members of SND and Tony Jacome (Shallow North Dakota's drummer) plays drums in both. I've actually had the pleasure of writing and jamming a few songs with Tony and he's a MONSTER.


Hellride Music: Feel free to share a ridiculous live story or two. Have there been any shows that stick out for being purely awesome, purely terrible or just downright crazy? I've seen a few ridiculous things in my time, although nothing too drastic. Wondered went on up your way.

J: Destruction of hearing, livers and buildings; the usual!


Hellride Music: Has there ever been any US touring for the band? Will we see any dates in the states for the Fogcutter trek or are you keeping things mostly local?

J: We toured for a couple weeks in the states for R'N'R Killer and had a great time. We would like to do the same for Fogcutter but have to tie up some legal issues before we can do so.


Hellride Music: With all of the rotating line-ups in the underground scene these days, how has Fiftywatthead been able to keep the same roster intact for so long? Anymore you've got bands reforming with one original member, or people coming and going faster than traffic on the freeway. What is the recipe for success, if you want to keep a project going, and how has the band been able to do that for so many years? Fuck, I was fooling around in a band for roughly two years and we had more people come and go than I ever thought possible!

J: We've all been good friends since high school and enjoy jamming together. We don't take things very seriously and do this because we love to do it. We keep things open and keep egos out of it. Fiftywatthead is the sum of its four parts.


Hellride Music: What's next for Fiftywatthead after Fogcutter is properly pushed in the live format? I'm ecstatic the band has soldiered on through time and I definitely won't lose track ever again! When all is said and done, where would you guys like to be when you call it a day? Please, tell me that a couple more albums will surface in the not so distant future!

J: Fiftywatthead has set a goal to be in the studio by June of this year. We've contacted Tony Hamera and he's on board for doing the next CD. We have about eight tunes right now and want to write a few more before we start cutting the fat. I don't ever think of calling it quits but imagine it might happen when we're all too old and deaf to be bothered to jam twice a week. We're toying with the idea of pod casting our jam nights (Wednesdays and Fridays), so we can eliminate the carting of all our equipment around.


Hellride Music: Normally, I ask this question first but I feel like living dangerously today. I wanted to dig right in and get to the burning questions on my mind first, so let's take a little step back. How did all of this madness start out? The band has been on the scene since about '98, but I've never really heard the story of how it started out. Tell us a little tale of how things got rolling!

J: The four of us had formed a band called Operation Table in the early nineties but disbanded to go on to college and what not. In the fall of 98 Ben, Kevin, and Bill formed Fiftywatthead which was originally an instrumental band until the summer of 99 when I came home for summer vacation, and asked to join the band as the second guitar player. They told me I could join but only if I would sing. Not being able to sing or play that great and definitely not being able to sing and play at the same time I said "no problem" and the rest is history.


Hellride Music: Whenever the volume isn't cranking on stage, and the beers aren't flowing in the practice space... what are you guys up to in all of the down time?

J: We're all tradesmen (2 electricians, a mold designer, and a carpenter) who work day shifts when there's work to be done. Or we're playing foosball.


Hellride Music: Thanks a ton for the interview. The pleasure and privilege was definitely on this side of the coin. I'd like to give you the floor for closing comments. Say whatever you want, curse whomever you want or write us a fantastical tale! The ball is in your court.

J: Just wait until you hear the new material. It speaks for itself.

Lumberingly heavy, Fiftywatthead flattens your head with a ruthless attack of sonic bombast with slight psychedelic overtones on the eight-track FOGCUTTER. Viscous guitars hurl lava-soaked boulders for riffs (”Followed by Thunder,” “Iron Clad”) while the valiant rhythm section fortifies homebase (”Last Leg,” “Seadawg”) with demonic vocal conjurings resonating the warmongering mantra of High on Fire interpreted by Melvins (”Capsized”) lead the charge. There’s also a slew of creepy noise rock entities dispersed throughout the course of this intriguing offering to round out this Canadian troupe’s ominous brand of stoner metal that specializes in providing punishing heft with a sinister sneer, leaving Fiftywatthead a multitude of weapons at their dispose to crush your soul.  www.signedbyforce.com -Mike SOS

Fiftywatthead – Fogcutter (Signed by Force)
By Jay Snyder
March 12, 2009

If I see one more Mastodon comparison in regards to this album I think I’m gonna scream! Don’t get me wrong; I’ve got nothing against the Georgia boys. Hell, I like ‘em quite a bit but this sounds nothing like them to my ears.

Canadian demolitionists Fiftywatthead have been on the scene for a long time now and I’ve been following them since their first (or second, I’m missing one disc called Horse) LP Volume 1. When I think of these madmen I think of Cavity, fellow countrymen Shallow North Dakota, Unsane and Cable; not the Moby Dick prog-smash of the band that everyone is likening to the sounds heard on Fogcutter.

One thing grabs me right off the bat on this one, their third full-length (possibly 4th); this is the trickiest set of compositions they have come up with yet. Expanding on the powerhouse sludge/noise of their preceding behemoth Rock n’ Roll Killer, the boys of FWH have found a way to make the doom grooves swing a little harder, the slow lurches even slower and their forward-minded attack even more obtuse! There are a few moments of no bullshit metal shred on this one, which is probably where the Mastodon mentions originate but FWH do it with much more panache and a big set of cojones. Blood Mountain this is not, this is something altogether filthier.

Opener “Whiteout” begins with a tricky, winding riff set to the beat of a devastating percussive swell, full of tense fills and elaborate time keeping. It’s probably one of the fastest, most chaotic tunes they’ve done up to this point. A doom battered, Sabbath undercurrent shines through in the note usage while vocalist/guitarist J Drummond bellows out screaming vocals that crack like the waves against the hull of the ship. His nautical lyrics are also fuckin’ fantastic. Everyone is always singing about the seas these days but Drummond really wrings out some memorable words that are way above the average “a vast all ye landlubbers” fare. He’s been placed higher up in the mix than on the band’s previous records, which adds to the slightly different feel on Fogcutter.

The immediately following title track will feel like an old, familiar admiral’s hat to those who’ve been following the band thus far. Repetitious, groove lobotomy drives an arrangement into your brain until the damn thing is reduced to a creamy liquid. The storm n’ surge of the riffs and rhythms builds this one to some great heights. Lurching Sabbath by way of Neurosis snarl rattles the ol’ bones, giving way to a break of distant, atmospheric riffwork. Where (gasp!) a much cleaner vocal delivery makes its appearance, another formerly uncharted course for the band! Things keep getting more mutinous by the minute with a sturdy solo pillaging nearby coastal towns and a cannon volley of unstoppable doom groove covering their escape route! It seems a whole new set of dynamics is at work here and I’m all about hearing that in bands I dig on. There’s risk taking without sacrificing the atonal pounding that I loved ‘em for in the first place!

Doom-weighted churn highlights the majority of “Seadawg”, as it trudges through even darker waters than its predecessor, beginning with a sludge lover’s wet dream of a riff and settling on an eventual adherence to noise-rock’s sweaty pummel. A steady handed drum battery ratchets up the tension infinitely, leaving a dingy, palm-muted riff to lurk ominously beneath the calm tide. Vocals burn with anger and a high-end cacophony of guitar noise pierces your concentration. We’re finally thrown to the wake of a molten groove that plummets even the most adept sailors down into Davy Jones’ locker.

It clears the deck for, “Capsized”; a dead ringer for Cavity’s steel-fisted swing. Take Floor’s more melodic vocal inclinations (tone ‘em down a bit and make ‘em gruffer) and plaster 'em over a barrage of premium Sabbath boogie, add meaty solos, a moment of moody introspection, more twists n’ turns than you could fit onto a battleship and you’ve got the recipe for one of the best damn songs I’ve heard in the genre. As epic as the sinking of the ship it describes, you’ll have this fucker on endless repeat after the first listen.

After this track, one might expect a soggy second half. Yeah, right. If you know these mates, you know things keep a consistent level of quality from track to track and “Four Points” follows “Capsized” with a vengeance. Yet another, in a long line of stoner-y rockers…we get a doom-baked kickoff riff which is tossed about in a sea of completely off-time, noise-rock hammering. Lots of killer licks in this one, including another helping of top o’ the line Sabbath/Cavity grooves. Drummond and co-axe Ben Guthrie lock down on every riff with the force of a vice grip, with the rhythm section bolstering the airtight, twin guitar smolder. They even get a bit country-fried, nailing an unexpected Southern-twang that brings home the bacon big time.

Feedback rapes ears and splinters thought patterns in the screechy intro of “Iron Clad”, where the sweltering noise burns to a point so hot you’ll feel your sea ravaged beard igniting on your chin. Reigning in the chaos, doom’s orderly rapture maintains the discipline of an elephant; fading out into an ebbing passage, guiding our brutalized vessel through a cleansing rain of kingly guitar harmonies, progressive riffs and extremely well plot out song structuring. I’d like to hear Mastodon pull off something this cool. This is not a knock on the band but I have to be honest here…this eclipses all of their epic intentions by developing gripping melodies while retaining a blue-collar thud.

Ending on a brief portion of the captivating riff that begins, “Last Leg” the tune segues directly into the aforementioned Kraken of a song. It is almost as if this track and “Iron Clad” were all jammed out in one sitting, and the two songs benefit greatly from their “live on the floor” feel. The album’s sole instrumental “Last Leg”, plows the same set of riffs into your mind relentlessly and introduces minor fluctuations as the time passes. At heart this juggernaut is a full-on, noise damaged Sabbath slinger in the fine tradition of Cavity’s “Black Snake”!

Closing out the disc, “Followed by Thunder” is a whale of a tale, packing 16’s pill popping, shitkicker groove into a more expansive framework full of noise, metal and soul-smashing doom; the perfect ending port for such an ambitious journey. If I would have gotten a hold of Fogcutter when it came out last year, it would have probably been a candidate for sludge album of the year. Especially since there is so much more at work than straight-up sludge mongery through the course of the album, however an honorable adherence to the almighty riff is all over this fucker.

I’m so damn glad Fiftywatthead’s journey has led them here. Bands of this type HAVE to exist in this day and age. They’re taking the fundamental components of the genre and stretching them far above the standard issue approach. To think I thought that they had peaked and disbanded on the note of Rock n’ Roll Killer, was a mistake on my part. They took the power of that one and expanded on it tenfold. Sludge fans need to hear this with their own two ears. There’s a lot I love about the bands of yore in their sound and really they’ve been helping to define it; far out of the public eye of course. I think they’ve been on the scene since ’98 or so, for Christ’s sake. Hopefully, Fogcutter will give them the much needed recognition they deserve. Highly recommended to fans of venomous, complexity riddled sludge; repeated listens are still not justifying the frustrating Mastodon comparisons. Personally, I think their much better and deserve their dues for being a highly innovative prototype. Recommended? Do you even gotta ask?