Tumbleweed Dealer - Death Rides Southwards EP

Before I get stuck into some more reviews later in the week, I thought I post about a band who contacted be directly through my blog (very rare!). They are Montreal based stoner/blues trio Tumbleweed Dealer. At the time they contacted me, they had this two track EP out called Death Rides Southwards, however since then they have announced that it'll be released as a three track EP via Moshpit Tragedy records. This however is now surprise, when you hear which bands their members have featured in. They include The Last Felony, Nefastus Dies, Vatican and Ion Dissonance!

Anyway, I'm reviewing the two track EP that they originally released unto the world.

Tracklist -

1. Death Rides Southwards
2. Crawling Through Cacti

Death Rides Southwards immediately sounds strangely soothing. The guitar melody and warm bass played by Seb Painchaud, lures you into a sense of calm and spaced out luxury. I mentioned above that Tumbleweed Dealer are a trio, but that is not strictly true. They are when live, but recorded they are a duo, completed by drummer Vincent Houde. TD's music is strictly instrumental, with none of the usual modern trappings, apart from being well produced. It's a welcome change from the distorted, murky sound that most bands of this ilk try to portray. In my slightly inebriated state, it sounds just fine!

Crawling Through Cacti follows the exact same blueprint as the title track. The musicians here prove they can play and bearing in mind the bands they've featured in before, they've gone in a different direction and this sounds all the better for it. This song is the longer of the two, but that's fine by me as I could listen to Tumbleweed Dealer all day. It's such a great blend of blues and rock, at the right volume and it just relaxes you to the point of becoming comatose. When I started listening to metal and punk, I vowed not to listen to instrumental music as I deemed it boring, but how wrong I was and thanks to bands like Tumbleweed Dealer, I can defiantly say that isn't the case.

They are in the process of recording a new album that will be out in 2013, so I for one, can't wait to hear it. If it wasn't for variation amongst metal and it's musicians, life would be very boring!

The aforementioned three track version of this EP can be bought from Moshpit Tragedy here - http://moshpittragedy.com/tumbleweed-dealer-death-rides-southwards.

You can listen to the two tracks above as well as their new one on Youtube via the videos below:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTOSsHpwcjQ&feature=share

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gl4DBntGf-Y&feature=youtu.be

http://youtu.be/JGedFVTR_L8

You can also keep up to date with Tumbleweed Dealer on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/TumbleweedDealer.