Album Review: Purling Hiss - Water On Mars

Purling Hiss is known, in the circles that it is known, for its caveman anger rock, drenched in psychedelic noise, all coming from one man, Mike Polizze. For this fourth album from the 'band', Polizze recruited a handful of friends to round out the sound. But did the sound even need rounding out?

Lolita certainly has the band in full-on blues punk mode; fuzzy, down-tuned and pedal-effected guitars belt out simple riffs over a pounding rhythm section and under passionate, guttural snarl-come-croon vocals. The fact that the song manages to be poppy enough to warrant a suitable “oooh, oooh, oooh” backing vocal refrain speaks volumes of the group's songwriting chops.

The tone doesn't stay here though, with the subsequent Mercury Retrograde and Rat Race seeing the group in a slower, more relaxed state of mind. Not that they don't still bring the fuzz; it's just now present with a more sensual and laidback edge. In fact, this makes highlights Lolita and the seven-minute, noise rock-influenced Water On Mars even punchier.

A fair touchstone would be current indie/rock/noise/country stalwarts The Men. Like that group, Purling Hiss move in and out of the red, showing that restraint can convey just as much power as relentlessness. Not that Water On Mars is destined to propel Purling to the inner sanctum of critical adoration in which The Men presently reside, but the album does manage to come damn close. Water On Mars is a brief, to-the-point record made with equal parts sugar and vinegar, worth a place on any modern hard rock collector's shelf, even if they do dip into calmer waters a little too often.