ASG hail from North Carolina and have been around for about a dozen years. I am always pleased when an album exceeds my expectations and this one does. Shifting from stoner to metal to blues to effective yet eerie space rock, Blood Drive never gets stuck. Each song is weaved nicely and is chock full of creativity..The musicianship is extremely tight with plenty of killer guitar solos and very impressive vocal harmonies enhanced by the amazing voice of Jason Shi, whose style is very similar to Perry Farrell. The sound might be comparable to a cross between The Sword, Torche, Quicksand, Baroness, Mark Lanegan,… and maybe a dash of early Hawkwind. For some reason they are far mellower than I was expecting and almost every song brims with soul. There were several moments on this album where I expected the band to go in a safe direction, but they would surprise by keeping the pace strong and maintaining a subtler sound than I predicted. The overall production by Matt Hyde (Fu Manchu, Slayer) has a decidedly warm sound, with the expected rough edges.
When listening to Blood Drive you want to play the whole album again. This band is damn hot and in my opinion has a great future in rock'n'roll I bet these dudes just rip it out live and I, for one, will be looking for the chance to experience them. It's honest, organic and could even find the band gaining a larger fan base.