By Amanda P
It’s every record label’s dream to find an artist who reinvents the wheel and makes it into something, well, cooler than a wheel. An untapped genre; a cozy little niche that a band aimlessly crawled into and made a home of. This is exactly what Lionize has done. I am still scratching my head wondering what I just listened to. The one thing I could pin point, was skill.
Superczar and the Vulture is the fourth full length album from the reggae-rock-funk-dub step-insert any classification here, band. I had moments where I felt like I was listening to Audioslave, Adam Levine and the Mighty, Mighty Bosstones in a blender. Guitarist Tim Sult shares his talent with the band Clutch, though the entire Lionize ensemble screams multi-tasking talent. The vocals have an ashy grit you’re not used to hearing over Reggae which is what dually confuses and pleases your brain.
“The Ballad of Ronnie Buttons” tells the Tommy-esque story of a troubled man who witnessed his mother’s death and thus was stricken dumb and mute, who carried a picture of the murderer from Virginia to NYC in hopes of avenging his mother’s death. Spoiler alert, upon finding the culprit, he learns that not only is the man his father, but he had just cause for his actions.
The album overall is a sweet little gem I’d like to keep in rotation and listen to on a sunny rainy day where I smoked weed and didn’t do drugs at all. How I love confusing genres!