I’m gonna preface this review by saying that the name of the band is gonna be shortened to Buzzard³, to avoid having to repeat their curiously long name each time.
Buzzard³ first came to my attention when their 3rd single: “John Lennon is my Jesus Christ” released earlier this year. It’s a fun, creative song naming many of musics legends as the equivalent of some of history’s most famous men. This quirky style flows through the band, from the musical progressions they use, to the clothes they wear. An EP was the obvious next step. What resulted was something closer to a full album.
EP Run-through
“Double Denim Hop” is a fresh, energetic opener featuring a distorted, shrieking guitar riff. It screams T-Rex vibes and isn’t afraid to hide them. Its a hard hitting opener, but also a bouncy and entertaining track that fits both a dance floor and a mosh pit.
Following comes “Late Night City” and “Stockholm City Rock”. These tracks maintain the heavy rock momentum established by the opener. The former is the first single the band released, back in 2019. It features great lyrics and strikingly catchy guitar work in the chorus.
Next up is “Hollywood Actors”, another of the 4 previously released singles on the EP. The song is a ode to staying unique and not hiding behind a face. A theme the band carry across their music and themselves. It’s a great example of the interesting and varied progressions the band enjoys using to keep their sound fresh.
A short interlude follows with the track “Theme From Early Morning city”. This is hugely effective in breaking up the EP into individual parts. It stops the huge heavy rock tracks and brings in a phase of slower songs, more deep and complex.
“Long Day / Free Day” talks about days of low inspiration and motivation, and the feeling of wasting time you could’ve done more with. The lyrics are very well integrated with the beautiful presentation of the track.
The EP’s next two tracks are “What Is Hate?” and “John Lennon Is My Jesus Christ”. The structure of “What Is Hate?” is entertaining and engaging with an amusing tone throughout. This contrasts the more serious lyrics of the track. The earlier mentioned single “John Lennon Is My Jesus Christ” perfectly slots into the EP at this point as if it had always belonged there.
After another interlude with track “Theme From Late Night City”, we get to the final song on the EP. Fortunately “Sugarloaf Mountain Crucify Me” is a much better song than one would guess from its bizarre name. It speaks to being genuine to yourself. The vocals and instruments are perfectly intertwined creating a gorgeously charming song which builds to a huge crescendo at the end. It’s a great closer for a great EP.
Overall Review and Score
The quality and presentation of this piece stunned me a little on my first run-through. It feels like more care and attention has gone into the structure and delivery of this EP, than goes into most full albums. Both interludes enhance the album, breaking it up. This makes listening to the entire album track by track more rewarding than just listening to each track individually. The whole is bigger than the sum of its parts.
Buzzard³ have now entirely got me on board with their unique and peculiar sound. Heavy hitting rock has never been this fun to listen to. I am greatly anticipating their first full LP and I hope to see them live on their headline tour next year.
Rating: 7/10
Top 3 Songs:
1. Sugarloaf Mountain Crucify Me
2. Double Denim Hop
3. Hollywood Actors
