ROADBURN MAGAZINE Wine, Women and Song are three of the Devil's playthings, says the cover and inside page of the new Porn record. I guess we could add the slide guitar and volume are two more of the Devil's playthings. The part of the Devil will played for this review by Tim Moss, guitarist, founder and guiding force of Porn. It's really easy to cast Moss in this role, I mean, there's just something inherently creepy about all the music that he's made, whether it was with Ritual Device or The Men of Porn. Moss just exudes dark seediness, both with his voice and with his guitar sounds. On his newest release, there is obvious veil of maleficence and sickness. This is evident before you even open the CD case. The cover is a pallid, bloated boy/cherub done in chiaroscuro style reminiscent of the old Italian masters. The painting style serves to enhance the cherub's sickly/sweaty sheen, and the fact that it's reclining in some of post-coital or heroin-induced bliss provokes deeply unsettling thoughts. Once you've actually put the CD on, the lyrics bring overt drug references, satanic references, and much more unsettlingly, the refrain from "Last Song", during which Moss states repeatedly "I saw you looking out my window last night." This is made even lewder by the fact that the production places him behind you and leaning very close to your era while he says it. The vocal production makes the most of Moss' somewhat limited singing ability by moving him all over the mix to alternately maximize his howling and his more personal speaking/incanting style. Devil Moss clearly ] channels the dark side, but he's also a relentless innovator and maximum volume hound, both of which are traits I admire. His latest backing band is the all-star team of Billy Anderson on bass [and production] and Dale Crover on drums. Calling them rock solid is no hyperbole. Moss takes this behemoth [and consistently interesting] rhythm] section to the furthest reaches of space and stoner rock and then sends back twisted and plaintive missives with his nearly human sounding slide guitar howls. "Wine, Women and Song" moves from these deep spacey jams to sharp, angular riffing with complete ease. There is a tremendous amount of ebb and flow on the whole record, with long quiet builds setting up supremely satisfying riff bashing. Throw in some great songs, stellar production and a monster rhythm section, and you have that most elusive of records, familiar enough to be easily digestible, and complex enough to listen to over and over. In contemporary terms, this record thouches on Ufomammut, Kyuss, Jesus Lizard, Melvins and Fuckemos. In classic terms there are traces of Black Sabbath, Hawkwind and Pink Floyd. A very tasty melange indeed, all served up with super loud and heavy production destined to destroy iPod headsets the world over. This has the hallmarks [earmarks?] of an album with tremendous staying power, it's consistently heavy and consistently interesting. So good it's sinful! Drew Webster- Roadburn Magazine - December 22nd, 2004 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------