Soundgarden + Tomahawk | Tracks

“Stone Letter”
Tomahawk

“Stone Letter” charges out of the gate with all the ferocity you’d expect of Tomahawk’s members. That’s Mike Patton, whose perverted mumble and deranged howl still unsettle like his finest moments in Faith No More; guitarist Duane Denison, reeling off lean side-winding riffs recalling his Jesus Lizard days; bassist Trevor Dunn, Patton’s bud in Mr. Bungle; and drummer John Stanier, the Helmet vet better known as the guy with the ten-foot crash cymbal in Battles. In other words, this is a supergroup, one with a bulletproof pedigree. “You don’t know me anymore,” growls Patton. It’s easy to take him at his word, considering the guy’s chameleonic output guarantees you can never get a lock on him. But “Stone Letter” drops the ambitions of his (and Dunn’s) more avant-garde experiments in favor of a straight-ahead ripper, strictly adhering to the loud-quiet-loud playbook. So much for this band being more than the sum of its parts.