Sweet Tooth - Soft White Underbelly

A hugely overlooked band formed by Dave Cochran of Head of David, Scott Kiehl of Slab! and Justin K Broadrick of Godflesh.  All three members were playing in God,  Cochran and Broadrick had recently both quit Head of David and Kiehl had quit Slab!.  Sweet Tooth was active for only a couple years releasing the studio album we have here, a live album on Broadrick's own Headdirt and a split 7" before dissolving.

 

 

Soft White Underbelly was their first release.  Co-released by Earache and Staindrop as MOSH26 it was available on LP and Cassette and classified as a "mini-album".  Granted it's only 34 minutes long but it feels like a whole album so it is a whole album.  There is nothing "mini" about this release at all.  Big bass, bigger drums and even bigger guitars, it packs a serious wallop.  Cochran lays down the foundation with pulverizing bass lines, Kiehl works his drums in and out of the bass with deadly precision and Broadrick finishes it off with some searing, noisy, guitar.  The vocals, by Cochran, are almost an afterthought.  They punch through with a reserved, almost lazy anger that seems to be only kept in check by apathy.  You would not be wrong, dear reader, to say that this sounds quite a bit like Head of David's fantastic Dustbowl.  Considering that DC and JB both play on that, it makes sense.  Some serious, pounding rock that on occasion loops away into the stratosphere.  If you want to hear what kind of effect a depressed, filthy, industrial atmosphere like Birmingham can have on balls out rock (besides Sabbath), this is it.

Soft White Underbelly - Flac