Review by Josh Felty
Rating: *****
Perhaps I've been living back in my native environs of Eastern Kentucky too damn long. There's only a couple of rock radio stations in the area. On a recent drive down US 23, there wasn't even that. Nothing but country and bluegrass, baby. I like some country, mostly the old stuff that actually was country. My heart is in heavy rock music, though--whether it be bluesy, twangy, or hippety-hoppety. Always will be, thank you very much.
It's no surprise then that Honkeyfinger's Invocation of the Demon Other is a breath of fresh air in a world of over-popped popular music bloated with Rascal Flatts and Lady Gaga. Similar to the approach of my previously reviewed Honky Tonk Hustlas album, these cats combine garage rock slide guitar, thumping rhythm, and distorted ball-and-biscuit fused vocals. Basically, this is what Southern rock and dirty metal sound like in bed.
I particularly gravitated toward "Margarine Man" (which actually has a very infectious sequel later on), the groovin' beat of "Trouble", and the roaring harmonica and vocals on "Parchman Farm". And honestly, that's only the first half of the record. What follows is very much what I've gravitated toward smothering my ear canals with the past few months, after discovering The Black Keys and catching up on one of my all-time favorites, The White Stripes: that rough and tumble, bluesy rock that sounds as though it were recorded in some dingy chicken shack somewhere in the Appalachians or near Muscle Shoals, Alabama.
Give Honkyfinger's latest a spin or two and revel in the "get your fat ass off the sofa" message in "True Believer" and other such classics as "Farmer George" and "Subaquatic Homesick Blues". I did, and surely invoked some demon others around these parts. The richness of this collection is unparalleled and varied, including short instrumentals and ambient forays in "Jitterbone Boogie" and "Fine Thing" respectively. "Running on Empty" is another highlight that rhythmically imitates the rat-a-tat sounds of an old Model-A truck engine.
I don't give five stars often, only when well-deserved. This album plays like a Delta blues voodoo spiritual, whirling in and out of j aw harp and dobro-laced compositions that never fail to simultaneously confound and amaze. The second part to "Margarine Man" is even better than the first, friends; and if you don't feel something after "Burning Skull Blues", then you need to stick to Justin Bieber or Beaver or whatever the hell that kid with the lesbian haircut's name is. The imagery conjured up by Honkeyfinger (the name alone) is far and wide, not to mention mired in barbecue, horseflies, and pig skulls.
And for that, I salute them with my own honkeyfinger.