Dead Meadow

Old Growth (Matador)

By Wilson Brown
Published: February 5th, 2008 | 9:58am

Old Growth, the fifth album from Dead Meadow, is a bit like that left over salad currently taking up space in my fridge: I know I should eat it, but I just can't make myself. The romaine lettuce is wilted, getting that mushy consistency, and those poor tomatoes now slide around on the plate soaked in oily dressing. So you take one bite and it's not all that bad, but it's not all that good either.

Unfortunately, Dead Meadow's latest effort is this doggie bagged version in comparison to the delicious Cobb salad days of 2003's Shivering King and Others. The creamy psychedelic swirls and reverb that surrounded those first three albums is now gone. Don't get me wrong; the album's not bad. The same Dead Meadow traits are mostly there—the somewhat Sabbath riffs, rivers of wah-wahs, and Jason Simon's best rendition of a Jim Reid sneer.

But that wonderful Barbara Walters Vaseline on the camera haze and sheen that allowed the foursome to float from song to song is noticeably absent. And that wall of droning fuzz in the foreground could at least give the slightest of their songs a thrill, like drenching soggy vegetables in a sea of Ranch to cover up the funky taste of leftovers.

However, all we’re left with this time around is a Tupperware container of browning salad that we’ll take one bite of, put back in the fridge, and forget.