Howlin' Rain: The Russian Wilds

    

   Especially in the music industry, a lot can happen in four years, and that is how long San Francisco rockers Howlin' Rain took to complete their album, The Russian Wilds.  Between the albums genesis and release, the band underwent almost a complete personnel change, and similar bands within the genre have completely come and gone.  For an unestablished outfit, putting this much time in to make a record is beyond daring.   The length was only added by infamous producer slash guru, Rick Rubin, being taken on as producer of the album.
     The Russian Wilds certainly reflects four years of music listening for the members of Howlin' Rain, as the album pinballs from different genres;  a bluesy riff rock tune paves way for a psychedelic soundscape, then into jamband noodling.  The different sound was exacerbated by Rubin's idea to over record and discard questionable material.  While this is certainly a novel way for the band to explore their chops, and to keep the album fresh, the composition of The Russian Wilds comes off a little scattered and unfocused.  Once again, this is not necessarily a huge liability for an album, but a more cohesive album, with less sharp and more amoebic changes, could have been created within such a lengthy time frame.  Thankfully, the band, as well as Rubin, keep the elements of their shreddy, prog rock, roots, perceptible through each song, many of which are quite extensive. 
     When The Russian Wilds is taken apart and looked at on a song-by-song basis, the album is an incredible success.  Each song is a work of art unto its self, and  each genre Howlin' Rain delves into is done with careful mastery and flawless production.  Lead vocalist Ethan Miller lends unbelievable 70s era range over the expertly played songs.
     When all is said and done, The Russian Wilds is a collection of masterpiece songs gathered together into a pretty good album.  The songs are done impeccably, but put together too jaggedly.  Howlin' Rain has obviously done great work, but they could have hammered this out over the weekend.