Peloton, Peloton

I first took a listen to three-man instro-sludge-metal outfit Peloton’s self-titled debut EP on a whim, really, just curious to see what they sounded like. I’d missed seeing them a while back, and they’d come highly recommended by Brandon Lemons of Co-Pilot, so I braved the R. Crumb-like cover art of a pair of lungs smoking while riding a bike and gave it a shot. And yeah, now I’m pretty damn happy I did.

In terms of release packaging, the Peloton gang (which, for this release, includes guitarist Halston Luna, drummer Zach Keener, and a bassist only credited as “Chris”) definitely took the easy route. As far as I can tell, the EP’s only available in free-to-all electronic format, and they didn’t even really title any of the songs, just calling ’em “I,” “II,” “III,” and “IV” (yeah, I’ll let you guess what order those go in). But hey, it’s an EP I got for free, so what the hell do I have to complain about?

After listening, what’s evident is that instead of worrying about how to package the thing, the band spent their time more focused on making the actual music badass. The highlight for me is the first track (“I”; duh), which starts off almost on a countryish note quickly slams headfirst into a heavy, low-end, just-distorted-enough backwoods stomp that calls to mind the best parts of Federation X. Oh, and it’s freaking awesome.

There’s a nice stoner-metal thing going on, but the guitars have a sharper, more dangerous edge to ’em than that, more closely akin to the out-and-out menace of local cohorts like Omotai or Defending the Kingdom than, say, Nebula. I’m loving the melodic break bit in the middle, too; the fuzzed-out, beautiful drone reminds me of Silversun Pickups in the best possible way.

“II” is much more straightforwardly “metal,” thundering and dangerous-sounding, and it’s decent but not mindblowing, unlike followup track “III,” which dives back towards the bluesy, boogie-tinged rawk. The song rides an honest-to-God groove, believe it or not, with the end result being a cool “No One Knows”-era Queens of the Stone Age vibe throughout.

Closer “IV” kind of bridges the gap between the band’s previous tracks, taking the all-out aggression of “II” and marrying to a murky, crunching, low-slung, almost Soundgarden-esque riff that bursts into ear-grabbing melody at surprising points. I think you probably need to hear Peloton with headphones on, by the way — that way, you can let the crackling, amps-on-fire distortion wrap itself warmly around your eardrums.

This EP’s definitely a picture of the band in their earliest stages, just three guys rocking out however the hell they feel like doing it, but for that it’s promising as all hell. I’m seriously excited to see/hear what they evolve into, especially with the addition of ex-Fight Pretty vocalist Denniz Trauma; laid-back and unassuming though they seem to be, I have a sneaking suspicion Peloton could make some truly massive noise.