Great Albums You Have Never Heard (Dustbowl)
Head of David, Dustbowl 1988 (Blast First)
An obscure U.K. outfit active mostly in the second half of the ‘80s, Head of David’s main claim to fame is having ex-Napalm Death man Justin Broadrick in their ranks for a couple of years before he moved on to form the mighty Godflesh and later Jesu. The next most notable piece of trivia in a list totalling two items is the fact that Fear Factory covered “Dog Day Sunrise” from Dustbowl on their 1995 Demanufacture album. Head of David’s sound is almost impossible to categorise. Although it’s a standard guitar/bass/drums/vocals setup, the riffs, structures and overall atmosphere are rather strange. Their thanks list includes a nod to “Big Black Sabbath” which at least provides a couple of pointers – there’s a ragged, sub-industrial feel to some of the music not unlike Big Black, and listening to “Ditchwater,” it’s clear that they’ve heard Black Sabbath’s “Zero the Hero” at least once. And, of course, Dustbowl was produced by none other than Steve Albini, now best known for his knob twiddling for Nirvana, but in times gone by the mastur-mind behind – that’s right – Big Black. Head of David recorded several albums and EPs (including two sessions for BBC Radio 1 legend John Peel) of varying styles and with varying degrees of success, but in 2008, the only catalog entry to really pass muster is Dustbowl, a bizarre, claustrophobic, unsettling, gloomy glimpse into, well, I’m not really sure what.
May 6th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
I’d say it most closely resembles AmRep noiserock, but not quite, being slightly more metallic. I bought this album on CD years ago for $1.00, mostly because I was a huge Godflesh fan. I’ve also got the first album on CD, creatively titled “CD.” For me this falls into that vast category of stuff that is neither really all that good nor really all that bad.
May 9th, 2008 at 7:58 pm
I got this album when it came out, because I was in some sort of Albini trance at the time. He also recorded Wedding Present around the same time as Head of David but that truly sucked. of all the stuff he recorded back then I always preferred Dustbowl (as well as the first Urge Overkill EP, ‘Strange, I…’ and some Killdozer). I haven’t heard it since then, but I seem to remember HOD had a cool Suicide vibe going on. But they covered ‘Ghost Rider’ too, right?
May 9th, 2008 at 11:06 pm
‘Dustbowl’ is HEAVY. I saw them play in a bar around ‘91 or ‘92. Killer show, they used a drum machine though. Justin was long gone by that time. Awesome frilly shirt on the guitarist. They were touring with Tar, an AmRep band….