To say a stoner rock band is druggy seems redundant on the face of it, but if there is a word to call Naam’s self-titled debut, druggy would be it (see below). All your tenets of stoner rock are here, but there’s an odd feeling that halfway through even the short songs (or even the beginning of “Fever Of Fire,” for example), some of the guys are dozing off in the middle of a riff.
It’s not as bad as that might sound. In fact, the Zui Quan approach to the riffery generates some of the best moments on the album, though tempo transitions are a source of awkwardness. The rhythm section of the howling bassist John Bundy and drummer Eli Pizzuto hold down the band for guitarist / singer Ryan Lugar to get lost over, and on the record, some meandering Vox Continental organ work pops up, particularly in the long bridge of the title track, revealing a clear Doors influence.
Given some refinement of their said Drunken Boxing style, Naam could easily put out a sophomore record that would impair my ability to drive a car. As is, their self-titled is an promising taste of what might be.
In A Word: Druggy
