The Fucking Champs are back and they’re called American Draft. Wow. This shit is amazing and totally righteous. Perhaps it’s just because I’ve been listening to Crack the Skye lately, but American Draft remind me of Mastodon, as far as the metal guitars and how tight they are. However, American Draft is entirely instrumental save for one song, “Dragon,” and, frankly, the screamy vocals don’t seem to fit in with the music. Comprised of members from Volta Do Mar (another instrumental, albeit much different band), the sound is very reminiscent of the Champs, too, but does enough to stand on its own. It isn’t all brutalizing, as the track “Wind” shows an electronic and acoustic side to the band, but soon thereafter American Draft is back to kicking ass and taking names. I didn’t know what to expect, based on the cover photo of a hawk perched on the hand of an elderly man with a white beard, but this rocked pretty hard. If you belong to a gym, when you’re there and no one is looking, switch the music on the sound system from the shitty pop radio they’re playing to this and watch everyone get super strong in no time.
–kurt (Coachhouse Collective, coachhousecollective.com)