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THE LIMIT
Caveman Logic
Svart Records

Consisting of members of legendary punk instigators THE STOOGES, the founders of doom rock PENTAGRAM, legendary NYC punk originators TESTORS and infamous Portugese metal band DAWNRIDER, meet THE LIMIT. They’re a modern doom/punk rock family. From the towns of Gotham and Lisbon, they’re edging their place right into history with their debut banger Caveman Logic. Shaped from the bedrock of the raw guitar work of veteran axeman Sonny Vincent of TESTORS (and had also toured with VELVET UNDERGROUND), the thundering four-string fury of Jimmy Recca of THE STOOGES and RON ASHETON’S NEW ORDER and the hulky and crooning vocals of enigmatic PENTAGRAM frontman Bobby Liebling definitely create an aura of mid-70’s CBGB’s-style street ready attitude throughout the album. But it’s the rhythm guitar skills and manic drumwork from DAWNRIDER’s Hugo Conim and Joao Pedro respectively who create their own energy and breathe new magic and fury into THE LIMIT’s sound.

“Do you think I’m unflattering?” Liebling’s deep-sounding pipes emote on the opening sleazy number “Kitty Gone” as the next 45 minutes of Caveman Logic pounds its way through a barrage of heavy-sounding doom/punk and some surprisingly diverse-sounding vocals. Liebling can bark out a decent DANZIG-style chant on one side on tracks like “Human VS. Nature”, “Black Sea” and “Over Rover” before pulling off a decent early 90’s Neil Young-sounding raw moment on “Fleeting Thoughts”. Likewise, on the swaggering but lamenting bluesy punk number “Enough’s Enough” where Liebling emotes perhaps some of his most soulful, vulnerable but also earnest vocals like a wisened Delta blues visigoth while also eloquently spinning some of the bluntest-sounding lyrical one-liners such as “Caveman logic/I can’t dislodge it” on the crashing title track or “They play originals but there’s nothing new” on the aforementioned “Fleeting Thoughts” (which I swear you could sing most of “Rockin’ In The Free World” over on). By the time the band slows down the groove on “Death Of My Soul”, Liebling’s managed to unleash his inner doom metal Johnny Cash on the first couple of lines.

Truth be told, given how 3/5’s of THE LIMIT’s lineup have had just as long of a music career as many of their contemporaries referred here, these comparisons, at least musically, aren’t exactly that much of a formidable stretch either, but the fact that Liebling, Vincent and Recca can all still deliver a raw and gritty performance throughout Caveman Logic alongside newcomers Conim and Pedro’s modern groove is practically art in itself – a stubbornness to conform, to compromise, to settle while aiming for realistic boundaries that are worth pushing and breaching through. Nevertheless, THE LIMIT and its bam-bam fury approach on Caveman Logic both promise a grand ol’ time for doomsters, punk rockers and everyone else under the geological umbrella.

5.0 Out Of 5.0

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