Do you know the old bit of folk wisdom that goes something like "Never judge a book by its cover"? Well, substitute record for book, and the old axiom becomes apt the same way. Food's self-titled record is an example of this axiom working in this situation. At first, I completely mistake the cover image for something else because at first glance the cover looked rather muddled to these jaded eyes. But, after sitting in my desk for several weeks, I look at the cover in completely different light and noticed some unspeakable quality to it that piqued my interest in the album.
Food has some seriously fuzzed out guitar tone that just immediately slaps listeners in the face, and the slower tempos, like what one can hear in "The Captain," definitely shows that sound off well. The band reminds me a bit of Cavity (only without the visceral rawness that band had) with the cutting guitars and strong rhythm section that are all soaked in some sludge-y dirge-like material that mixes in some uptempo parts to keep the songs interesting, even the broken vocals has a vague resemblance as well. The whole record conjures images of desperate people beyond caring drenched in urine laying in a gutter while hating everything that walks or crawls in front of them. The opening drum hits and bass crawl of "Love" are just about perfect and emanate a great misanthropic mood; the guitars slice into the din at the right time and in the right way for maximum effect while the bridge adds the right change and kills when it hits, which make the song my favorite out of the five tracks that are on this album.
Food's debut comes off as a compositional act of doing it (being the music) for themselves, which I surely respect, because there are not a million bands out there right now trying to ply their sound in this style at this point. I really dig this record, and yes it has a great deal to do with how much they remind me of Cavity, which is awesome in my eyes. The music just sounds so negative, and there is not a stinker or any filler in the set. Food would really have me if the album was a little more raw and thicker sounding, but the album definitely has me listening.
