High Noon Kahuna - Killing Spree

After supporting each other through the years in various bands including Admiral Browning, Akris, Internal Void, The Larrys and Black Blizzard, three Frederick, Maryland musicians, Tim Otis (guitar), Brian Goad (drums) and Paul Cogle (bass/vocals) have come together as High Noon Kahuna.  Following their eponymous 2020 EP they are now back with Killing Spree.  With a foundation often, but not always, rooted in surf rock and spaghetti western, they add in elements of everything from doom, stoner rock and noise to punk, funk and jazz to create a refreshing set of songs.  “Parachute” kicks the album off and has a great surf rock intro mixed with a bit of fuzz and distortion.  Once the vocals come along the intensity picks up and really sets the tone for what’s to come.  “Danger Noodle” is a slower, more downtuned track that has a droning doom intensity with a bit of a stoner vibe, but still has a jaunty surf rock undercurrent.  The first of two instrumentals, “Sharktooth” is a heavier surf tune with a solid groove and a beat that has a bit of a funk feel to it.  Exploding with fuzzed out guitars and reverb, “Another Way Around” is one of the album highlights.  It’s more of a straightforward upbeat stoner rock track, but occasionally slips into a bit of a surf groove.  The second instrumental is “Black Lodge” and it’s a track that really sets itself apart from the rest of the album.  It almost feels like they are just jamming, opening with a slow, kind of lazy groove that meshes surf with a jazzier feel and then intensifying bit by bit before ending in a feedback laden blast.  Clocking in at just under ten minutes the aptly titled “Sand Storm closes the disc out.  After starting off like a classic stoner rock track with some really impressive guitar work, about halfway in they put the brakes on, and it slows down into a sludgy doom drone before turning into a pummeling wall of distortion.  This is quite an impressive release and I'm Really looking forward to hearing where they go from here.    

(High Noon Kahuna - Facebook)