made in voyage

1 25 Hawaiian
2 Whipping Child (MP3/4.6 megs)
3 The Garden (MP3/5.8 megs)
4 Wish You Were Mine
5 The Liar, The Witch & The Wardrobe
6 Bullseye
7 Here
8 Evil Out
9 OhighO (MP3/6.4 megs)
10 Semi-Automatic
11 Shine

Bottom MADE IN VOYAGE
Review by Ian Clark (Stonerrock.com)

Band Lineup:
Sina: howling, grunting, cooing, and G-tar
Nila: holding down the low notes
Clementine: slamming, banging and groovin`

Rarely can a band combine the rawness of a first release with the songwriting aptitude of a band who has been playing together for much longer. Bottom has suceeded in doing just this on their first album "Made In Voyage." Hard and heavy and emotionally raw, but with a great degree of finesse, making the songs as worthy of banging your head as they are easy to groove on the melodies. This combination is one reason any hard rock enthusiast should make this release a priority on their want-lists.

Bottom is a three piece band out of New York City, and it shows. New York has always developed a certain edge to many of its musicians` styles which represents the tension which only that city holds over its population. Whether citing the 60`s psycho-psychedelics of the Velvet Underground, the dissonant, adventurous guitar experimentation of Sonic Youth, the thunderous haunting tones of the Swans or even the noise-laced, Sabbathesque grooves of Helmet, there has been a certain, anxious edge that is evident, regardless
of where other influences might take it. Bottom is certainly not immune to this vibe, though their particular marriage of 70s hard-rock grooves with that NYC vibe sets them apart from both their New York peers AND Stoner Rock contemporaries. At the same time, I think
ANY fan of any strand of the Stoner Rock spectrum can find admirable elements within Bottom`s songs. The grooves and melodies are totally infectious, the musicianship is tight, heavy and psychedelic and spans
the ground from quietly restrained to frighteningly furious, often within the same song.

The ebb and flow of the band`s compostions is another thing to be admired. Where many metal/hard rock acts seem to struggle to establish smooth transitions within songs, Bottom seem to do so effortlessly. Even if the music itself is biting and jagged, the transition from verse to chorus is like butter. The band has their finger
on a burgeoning intensity that they fearlessly know when to unleash. Traversing quiet, almost serenading soft spots and then lurching into an explosive fury. This is achieved by each musician individually, and is certainly evident in Sina`s vocal style. Nila`s bass-lines go easily from Sabbathy, melodic grooves to Godflesh-like percussive crunching.
Clementine`s percussion seemlessly streams from grounding the back beat to raging fills and stunning leads. Sila`s guitar constantly rips and churns in and out of the groove, displaying ample aptitude in both
power-riffing the heavy chords out and countering the melody with dexterous notes and a variety of different guitar textures.

This album spans the range of that what is considered Stoner Rock. The melodic, low grooves of "25 Hawaiian," and "Wish You Were Mine" could easily appeal to the Nebula/Fu Manchu fans. Likewise the
thunderous sludge of "Whipping Child," "Evil Out" and "Semi-Automatic" will appeal to those who prefer doomier levels. Though Bottom rarely brings their tempo down to that of Acid King or Goatsnake, they
demonstrate a similar degree of heaviness, infused with an edgy amount of punk aggression which is forceful, yet never betrays the underlying grooves.

"The Garden" and "Here" both clearly demonstrate the bands abilities to expand beyond the constraints of four-time-based compostion. The former with an extremely catchy melody in six-time, which has been flickering in and out of my head weekly, since I picked up the album
in September.

"OhighO" is a perfect blend of all their elements, combining classic metal, punk attitude and the perfect balance between psychedelic tension builds and an extremely explosive release. A brilliant piece which stands out among a collection of songs which have very little visible weakness.

Closing the album is "Shine," which is, if I may say, downright pretty in its own way. Both music and lyrics work together to weave a song simultaneously uplifting and melancholy, quiet and powerful. Such paradoxes are prevalent throughout this album, as they are in their
own self-description on the band`s website. Nothing is flat about this album. Lyrically and musically Bottom brings the listener on a ride that is sometimes pleasant, many times ugly, sometimes both but always very heavy. Absolutely one of the ten best Stoner Rock releases of 1999.