I first came across Howling Giant in March of 2019 when I booked them for a Heavy Mash show case that kind of came together on its own due to bands traveling down to Austin for SXSW. Their performance ended up being my favorite of the night next to my local favorite FTW.
I don’t think they typically tour with the keyboard player, so it seems like that show was a rare occasion when they have someone on board to bring that element.
And that element is part why I dig this band. Not because they incorporate that organ sound, but because of how well they blend the instrument into their songs without it being too much. That, and on top of mixing it well with what I consider more metal sounding songs.
I’ve been listening to their new album, Glass Future, for the past week. Overall, it is a fantastic stoner metal album. Another reason I dig this band is that they have more of the straight forward metal sound as opposed to the blues based type of stoner rock, which is easy to fall into if you worship the mighty Black Sabbath. Though, there is definitely nothing wrong with that, it’s just there are tons of bands doing it. I’m sure there are tons of bands with this approach, I’m just more exposed to the other I guess.
I dig the spacey opener of Hourglass into Siren Song, which is a great opening track. And that organ is there peaking its head out just like I like.
I’m not much of a track by track reviewer. Like I’ve previously said, I’m not the best at this. Might be better if I listened and took notes, but I’m usually writing these posts on my phone before work.
But back to Glass Future. Like I said, overall great album. Other memorable tracks are Hawk in a Hurricane, First Blood of Melchor, and There’s Time Now. They did a great job on arranging tracks for the album. There is a good flow track to track, so it is easy to get lost in the album.
They just kicked off the tour for this album, so catch them if they’re in your area. I’ll be trying to go to the Dallas show on 11/14 at Dada.
slow draw is... 
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