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Fans of Crowbar, Down and Monster Magnet will dig Pillbuster, with their vocal patterns somewhere in between C.O.C. and High on Fire. Self described as stoner rock, there are elements of doom and southern metal to this group. Vocalist Brett Lloyd leads the way with a mouth to match the rhythm of Joe Festa on guitars and Douglas Stanek on drums, to round it out. While the group hails from Virginia Beach, they truly are a collective of musicians with various origins within the US. The guys have been taking the band slow and steady since their formation in 2009, playing around a while before finally recording

To start, the production of this release could be better. The guitars are easy to hear and well delivered, the songs are written well enough for their music and message but the quality, though not horrible, leaves room for improvement.

With that noted here is what you can expect from Pillbuster’s Brothel: four songs with mesmerizing guitars, gritty vocals and some solid southern-slash-stoner metal rhythm. Prophet Kill starts off this four track EP. Starting this track is like staring the engine of an old muscle car before you take a long road trip: light a cig, keep it loud and hold on. Because with this start there is going to be a hell of a haul – no matter how long the trip.

A Parting Gift starts to “slow down” and announces a change to the soul and purpose of the EP, while track three, Hateburn, picks up the beat only slightly. This introduces the title song, Brothel, a fairly steady tune with more rock guitar and drumming to make a classic rock performance.

While the production is not as polished as it could be, the success in this release is in its sound. Pillbuster have a good band on their hands with a decent feeling, something notable and rare to experience within today’s music machine.

A note to fans of Vista Chino, this one might be for you too.