Monday, September 24: Black Tusk, âCrossroads and Thunderâ
âCrossroads and Thunderâ closed Set the Dial, and encapsulated that albumâs refinements of the template Black Tusk established over their 3 previous records.  Not much changed from Taste the Sin, and nothing really needed to, since the song was an appropriately massive bulldozer of a track that perfectly encapsulated the bandâs brand of âswamp metalâ.  If Baroness was already experimenting with new textures by 2010, Black Tusk was sludgy, doomy and stonerrific for its own sake, and âCrossroads and Thunderâ came close to being even murkier than Kylesa. Andrew Fidlerâs guitars added a thick layer of tar to the Iommi blueprint, James Mayâs drums rolled and tumbled, and the late Jonathan Athon laid down a fat bottom end.  In other words, âCrossroads and Thunderâ was prime sludge metal, delivered by knowledgeable practitioners with aplomb.
