Bantha Rider out of Warsaw, Poland embraces its offerings well, presenting four instrumental tracks of dusty, wasteland sludge aimed at frying your brain faster than the two looming suns of Tatooine. Opening track “Sandcrawler” rumbles to life before chugging at a steady pace, doing justice to its titular namesake. These riffs conjure images of huge metal machines rolling through the desert, leaving only clouds of sand and hash smoke behind. “Uta tuta Solo (Greedo’s Funeral)” keeps things moving and wastes no time kicking off. In probably the grooviest track the album has to offer, Chris (Guitar) really showcases some of his skill, offering up some truly rad shredding. “Jawa Juice” takes you on a trip in such a way that proves there is no shortage of hallucinogens to be found in Mos Eisley. Behind the lead guitar, Bart’s low end bass and Art’s crashing drums concoct a head spinning flavor only available in the Outer Rim. “Sarlacc’s Pit” closes the album out and delivers in every way you’d expect a song about a giant carnivorous arthropod to do. Fast and hard-hitting at the start, as if enthralled in a battle with the creature’s mouth, the song soon slows to a solid pace, our five and a half minute abridged version of the average thousand year digestive time. Bantha Rider doesn’t do much in the way of reinventing the wheel, but these songs are a lot of fun. Even better is that each song feels extremely fleshed out and full of life, providing a solid beginning, middle, and end to each desert tale. Get ready to throw some tabs in the blue milk and take a trip through the desert with Bantha Rider!
At the time of this writing the only available version of this album is digitally through the group’s bandcamp page. The cover artwork is brilliant, letting the listener know exactly what to expect. I love the layout of the three Tusken Raiders each at a different stage of lighting up. I look forward to a physical release in the near future.
