Plantation’s new EP Out of the Dark

Although they bill themselves as a rock band, to my ears Plantation sounds very much a grunge band.   Not only that but they are one of the best grunge bands out there today! Hailing from Philadelphia, PA these four guys are carrying the torch lit by bands like Soundgarden and Alice in Chains and running with it. I also hear a lot of Black Sabbath in their sound, which is fine by me!

They recently released their first EP called Out of the Dark. It contains six great songs and I give it my highest recommendation! The first song on the EP called Painted Desert has a groove that reminds me a little bit of Stone Temple Pilot’s song Sex Type Thing, but with more of a Chris Cornell sounding vocal. It really rocks and is a great opener for the EP.   The second track is called Been This Far and it’s my favorite song on here. It starts out sounding like the guitar is playing on the radio and then the whole band kicks in and just wholly rocks out! Every member of the band is firing on all cylinders on this song. It’s the song that really shows it’s no one person that makes Plantation work but the entire team.   Singer Corey Presner is really laying it all out there with his passionate vocals. Drummer Ben Torpey and bassist Matt Williams keep a driving foundation that makes you want to start a pit or something. Even though I love the way the guitar sounds on all of the songs, I think Been This Far is where guitarist Patrick Fiore throws down some of his best guitar riffs and the guitar solo is flat out awesome! Things slow down with the next song Lost Dog.   This one’s a really good song too, but isn’t as energetic. One part of the song sounds a lot like Come As You Are by Nirvana and the other part is heavier but still slow. Even though this song doesn’t rock as much, the singing is still just as passionate as ever. The EP picks back up again with the next song called Slow Down, which has a badass guitar riff and is another one with hints of Stone Temple Pilots in the vocal melody. This is a very solid song. The fifth track on the EP is the shortest one and another slow song, but this time it’s slow and HEAVY like if Chris Cornell sung with Black Sabbath.   This is really another great song.   It might not be as much of a grunge song as the rest of the album even though it definitely has a Soundgarden influence. This one is more of a really great stoner rock song. The closing song on the EP is the title track Out of the Dark, which has a very heavy Alice in Chains feel with hints of Soundgarden and Black Sabbath.   Williams has a really cool bass line on this song and Fiore really shows his ability to use the guitar in a variety of different ways here. As he does throughout the album, Presner sings with such intensity that you just feel like he means every word he’s saying.

These guys are making such awesome music that I wish I could get everyone to listen to them and hear for themselves. Do yourself a favor and take a few minutes to go check out Plantation at http://plantation.bandcamp.com