Bronco Self-Titled Vinyl Review

Often, tragedy stops bands in their tracks. While the loss of guitarist Tim Bryan in 2021 still looms heavily over fans of the once promising Southern Sludge band, Toke - a phoenix has now risen from the ashes of the band… All hail the mighty Bronco! I’d read somewhere awhile back about the band being put together, but I didn’t follow up, I preferred to wait and just see what became of it. As soon as the band’s Self-Titled debut album hit my box, I had a listen and immediately purchased the vinyl edition. You don’t fuck around when it comes to damned good Sludge/Stoner/Doom, you buy the vinyl immediately.

No disrespect meant to Tim Bryan, but longtime fans of Toke will be right at home as this is the same band minus his guitar tone/riffs. The biggest difference is the amount of Southern swagger this band now carries. The album opens with “Scourge Descent” and it’s like being dropped off in the murky swamps of the Everglades. You know there’s Gators, snakes and all sorts of other miserable shit just waiting around the corner to greet you. Great introduction to the album, the riffs are crushing and dank as hell – I really get off on the guitar tone in the leads/fills, they have a familiar classic vibe. “Ride Eternal” is the band’s first single if I’m not mistaken, I believe it was released for streaming/listening pleasure when the band was announced or somewhere around that time. Again, I chose not to listen, I wanted to be surprised, and I wanted to feel everything the band had to give on an official release. This one is a staple of what the band is about – the Riff, lowered tunings, playing slow and sheer domination of the listener’s mind, body and soul. “Light Of God” does see the band pick up the pace a little bit and then the verses kick in and the band drops off into a funky swing groove that has a bit of a Southern feel to it. The Hillbilly in me feels right at home on this one. The track “Legion” leans further into the slow grinding swing grooves and there are moments where I find myself with the “stink face” as I’m bobbing my head.
 
Previously, Toke had recorded a few covers and added them on the repress/reissue of their Self-Titled album – Motorhead’s “Limb from Limb” and Cream’s “Sunshine of Your Love”. Both of which I was a big fan of, they did them great justice and I really enjoyed the idea of a Sludge band choosing these songs to cover, they were out of the way and a bit forgotten about, depending on how you view them. It said a lot about their tastes in music. Naturally, I was kind of hoping that Bronco would continue this tradition and toss in a rad cover from the way back. Thankfully, they did, the choice of cover this time out is “Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia”. It could be because I’m from Ga. Or it could be because I’m old as hell and Southern-fried as fuck, but this is a perfect choice to me! I grew up with my mother spinning Vicki Lawrence’s 45 of this song almost daily. The song tells a great story, it’s fun and it has a swampy feeling to it and a great riff. In the 90’s Reba McEntire covered it, and it got massive amounts of air play and was a hit again. Whether or not Bronco was influenced by McEntire’s version isn’t known to me, I’d like to think they wanted to cover Lawrence’s version, that’s what I hear… It has that swamp feel and the clarity of the riffs and the tone is on point. I’m also particularly amused by the vocals. You won’t find a cover more well done than this, no fucking way. These dudes wore their hearts on their sleeves and fucking slayed a classic piece of Georgia history! This song is worth the purchase of the album alone.

I know it’s been a long road for Bronco to get this album recorded and I’m sure there were times when they wanted to quit/give up coming out of the heartbreak of the loss of their beloved bandmate and letting go of the band, Toke. From a fan’s perspective it was worth it, there’s 8 killer tunes here for the world to dig into and there’s no telling how many songs were left on the cutting room floor. I hope this is the start of another wonderful Sludge/Stoner/Doom band. From where I’m standing this is the best Sludge related release this year. It features everything that’s great about the genre – aggression, riffs, song writing/arrangements and just good old-fashioned talent. If you’re into bands like Weedeater, Bongzilla, Dopethrone and Electric Wizard just follow the SMOKE, the RIFF and hold on tight. Bronco has arrived and they’re ready to run it back and fuck you up all over again Southern style.

~Black Angel