Sun and Sail Club

It's been a busy year for Kyuss alumni, with the release of both QOTSA's …Like Clockwork and the long-awaited debut from Brant Bjork and John Garcia's Vista Chino. Not to be left out, Ex-Kyuss bassist Scott T. Reeder has a new project in Sun & Sail Club, a collaboration with Fu Manchu's Scott Reeder and Bob Balch. Aside from having twice the usual amount of Scott Reeders, what's striking about Mannequin is Balch's decision to sing all of his parts through a vocoder. His vocals add a cold, spacey element to the band's driving, muscular grooves. The result sounds like a rabble of aliens tearing through the desert on a blasteroid bent on reaching the Joshua Tree ("It's All Your Fault"). Relying heavily on a vocal effect throughout the album might seem like a gimmick, but Sun & Sail Club tempers their vocoder-heavy performances with refreshing instrumental breaks. The vocoder has been creeping its way into metal for some time, appearing on albums by the likes of Cynic, Mastodon and Nachtmystium. Still, its use here is unique and unconventional, pushing Sun & Sail Club's metal into interstellar territory.