OBN IIIs - Third Time to Harm (2015)

OBN III’s third LP—the appropriately titled Third Time To Harm—follows the bands’ justly lauded LPs, The One and Only (2011), and self-titled follow-up (2012). This latest and greatest slab of guitar-driven magma from Austin’s great sons captures best the brute energy of their unique calling card; their live show (an experience that oscillates between epic and epileptic) by coupling it with heavy recordings. Third Time To Harm nets that exact rare bird that eludes so many; a truly charismatic front man fronting a real rock band that’s not faking a single thing and has talent. And situated amongst a modern class of garage rock superheroes cropping up everywhere, what’s so refreshing is that the OBN III’s’ unforced style and swagger not only shines through, but naturally punches through, song by song, show by show, laying the tracks for its own freight train.

Third Time To Harm is a straight up rager full of ripping Marshalls taking hard turns into dark places (both personal and universal). A definitive party record in sound, but a complete record in scope with its detailed riffing and bright solos burning over mountainous beats in the wildfire of NEELEY’s antics. They've rightly been compared to Sonics Rendezvous Band…and that won’t stop here. There’s also plenty of Iggy-like heart in this, but in the interest of interest Orville struts out from beneath the shadowy impositions of any “Stooges role” expected of him, instead gnashing his teeth against newly cut rhythms, adding dimension to the band. With all the vigor of the former, and all the direction of his own.

With shows and albums that speak for themselves; leaving heart, blood and beer on the floor every night, this self-produced record captures best their honest appeal with a big recording. And it's all wrapped up in a bow of middle fingers. OBN III’s have been steadily carving their name into the upper echelons of the underbelly…and with intense touring, 2014 may be the year the band is poised to really (and at long last deservedly) blow. Either way, the beat chugs on…