Griff's Exegesis - s/t (Land o'Smiles Musick Club 2002, PFC01)
Pennsylvania Connection - s/t (self-released 2002)

From Aural Innovations #24 (July 2003)

Well, I thought there was a promo sheet with the CD but I can’t find it. Anyway, it appears to be a one man project (Chris Griffith) of home demo recording. They are extremely well done but very low fi. Some of the stuff is more ambient space while other stuff is very raw and reminds me of Helios Creed-Chrome-Big Black with a bit of CAN mixed in. He mixes up nearly every other track with strange acoustic guitar ballads with droning electronics or strange noises in the background. Quite cool. Some of the song titles are great like "Cross Section", through "Jazz Musicians Skull" and "She’s Got A Thick Finger!" A cover of "The Watcher" by Motorhead/Hawkwind is second to last on the CD and much more inspired by Hawkwind than Motorhead. Very spaced out. "Atavan And Its Uses In The Gnostic Arts" is a 17 minute very bizarre musical piece but excellent. All in all, a very enjoyable CD. I look forward to hearing the next and you should as well.

Pennsylvania Connection is a heavy doom rock experience that pounds at your head for 33.33 minutes exactly, no more no less. It features Chris Griffith of Griff’s Exegesis on guitar and Jesse Kling, a nasty power vocalist from the band Big City Clits. Bobbo and Tim Kratz fill out the bottom end. The opening track, "Heavy Days", is very Sabbath inspired, even borrowing a riff pretty directly at one point. "Cyberpimp" layers a strange electronic drone on the top of the doom riff. "Angeldust" is a cover of Venom. Quite a cool version. "Aim For The Windshield" is a slow doom rocker. "Organ Donor" reminds me a bit of St. Vitus but with a nasty Bon Scott like vocal. "Angry Dragon" closes the main CD with a Spirit Caravan like riff. The CD label has 8 tracks listed but you get 13 if you put the CD in your player. Tracks 9-12 are just 4-6 seconds of clicks but track 13 is an unlisted acoustic ballad with a organ very lightly playing in the background. Heavy doom metal with a punk attitude and some nasty lyrics. Check it out... if you dare.

For more information you can visit the Griff's Exegesis web site at: http://www.landosmiles.com/exegesis.
Visit the Pennsylvania Connection web site at: http://www.landosmiles.com/pennconn.

Reviewed by Scott Heller

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