Collection:
EL DRUGSTORE
Plague Ship
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"We horen een gevecht tussen Cynic en Orthrelm, een gevecht tussen drie tovenaars die een soort technische metal spelen die er geen is. EL DRUGSTORE zit op de grens van metal en mathrock, lekker ingewikkeld maar toch uitnodigend tot headbangen." - Gonzo Circus
"For the times that feel like you could bounce off the walls out of sheer frustration, pick any track from this white knuckled ball of fury, and an outlet will be found." - In Your Speakers
"Tout au long de l’album, El Drugstore mélange la folie et la technique, de façon ingénieuse et bien dosée, de sorte que l’écoute de l’album complet peut mener à la démence ou à l’internement… Je vous aurez au moins prévenu!" - Ondes Choc "Throughout the album, El Drugstore mix madness and technique, in a manner that is ingenious and well proportioned, such that listening to the whole album may lead to dementia or internment... You've been warned!" - Shock Waves
"Plague Ship is a perverse ten-track trip through psychotically-calculated musical bedlam. […] Who knew there were so many 'wrong-sounding' chords? More importantly, who knew they could feel so right?" - The Midlands Rocks
"Click play, sit the fuck down and pay attention for the next ~50 minutes. No breathing room, no respite, just some of the best heavy music you’ll hear all month." - Church of the Riff
"EL DRUGSTORE is a dizzying, disorienting listen – […] what might happen if Converge, Botch and Mastodon got together to score a soundtrack for a particularly harrowing episode of Itchy & Scratchy." - OneMetal
"Make no mistake, El Drugstore’s first full length offering, Plague Ship, is awesome. The level of musicianship within El Drugstore is mind boggling. Each note is lovingly crafted. Each bar has a purpose. What Kandinsky did with colour and lines, El Drugstore does with music." - This Is Not A Scene
"EL DRUGSTORE often reminds me of the mind-numbing dexterity and style of fellow instrumental metallers Electro Quarterstaff, both structurally and riff/drum-wise, especially during “Wheel Of Sadness” and “The Natives Are Getting Useless”, and at certain parts of other songs. The heart of the rest of their identity resides somewhere between Botch, Keelhaul, and Dysrhythmia." - No Clean Singing
"EL DRUGSTORE are a difficult band to compare to because so many bands come to mind like old Mastodon, The Fall of Troy, and even High on Fire. However, they are more technical than most of those bands. Most instrumental albums, in my experience, are fine as a whole, but lack any great stand alone songs. Plague Ship is an exception. 'By What Ill-Begotten Means Have You Procured This Meat?' is my favorite on the album as it represents everything the band is about and seems to be the most diverse track. It starts crazy, speeds up, slows, becomes melodic, then goes fucking nuts all in about four minutes. […] The result is pleasant. And by pleasant I mean an absolute chaotic clusterfuck of technical metal insanity." - Metal Injection
"Beginning with one of my favorite tracks, 'The Natives Are Getting Useless,' the listener is taken on a spectacular tour of EL DRUGSTORE's musical schizophrenia. Guitarist Kevin Conway brings you right to edge, then berserkers off in a totally different direction which, for some, reason makes perfect tactical sense. Their synchronized madness is a thrilling ride that reveals a different perspective each time you take it in." - Metal News Online
"At first glance you may wonder if this band is truly serious. But once you hear their dark and complex melodies woven in with their pulsating drums, you’ll see that EL DRUGSTORE is no laughing matter. […] The musicianship is clearly there, and the sound is damn near hypnotic." - The Horn
"The best elements of the work of bands like Pelican, Godspeed You Black Emperor and even Mogwai, with a sludge twist." - Grande Rock
"Yes, they could have just played some heavy shit for you; or they could open doors without losing that vicious snarl. […] These New Jersey instrumentalists must have been quite the distraction in class. Attention spans be damned. If masturbating to Mahavishnu Orchestra in a Primus shirt while the jiggling lady explains string theory over a Mastodon soundtrack is your thing pick it up. It’s hectic, it’s heavy, it’s technical." - New Noise Magazine
"This is definitely a band that doesn’t have much patience, much to the benefit of anyone hungering for a genre-smashing metal band that isn’t too self-involved to forget about actually writing good music, because most of what EL DRUGSTORE brings to the table is brilliantly constructed. […] For a connoisseur of the cross-pollinated, this album is a thrill a minute. If you’re not prepared for the onslaught of twists and turns, you’ll be left in the dust by Plague Ship. But if your palate is bored and needs something spicy, you can’t go wrong with EL DRUGSTORE." - Destroy the Brain
"10 concise, sharp and stunning instrumental stoner/progressive rock RIFF workouts in the style of Astrohenge and Russian Circles, […] providing a 45 minute cavalcade of RIFFS, time signatures, fantastic musicianship and hooks that can either be enjoyed as one whole movement or as individual moments." - Echoes and Dust
EL DRUGSTORE's Plague Ship "is like listening to that crazy homeless guy on the corner go off about how the government is in bed with an alien race that planted a chip in his brain so they could read his thoughts and shrink his penis, all the while being structured well enough to make perfect sense." - Apoch's Metal Review
"The Jersey instrumental trio makes a fuckload of noise on their new album, Plague Ship. It’s 45 minutes of brain-busting, off-timed scatterrock." - Noisey
"EL DRUGSTORE take the blueprints provided by bands like Dysrhythmia, Keelhaul, and Don Caballero and create a sound all their own that is equal parts heavy, technical, and zany. Plague Ship sets sail with disorienting, cycling melodies […], angular riffage, psychedelic bass wizardry and erratic drumming […]. This forty-five minute, manic behemoth will devour you whole and let you soak in its psychedelic digestive juices before regurgitating you a changed, possibly mentally-disturbed human being. The music is hyperactive, disjunctive and jarring. It will enthrall you as well as pummel you with its tornadoes of complex riffing and eccentricities. Instrumental technical metal has been done before but EL DRUGSTORE have a style all their own and Plague Ship can attest to that. If you like your music drug-induced and mentally-deranged, then you should give EL DRUGSTORE a chance." - American Aftermath
EL DRUGSTORE is "a winding and twisting instrumental act with a capital ‘mental’. Delightfully non-linear and coming across like the half-way point between East Of The Wall and the all-too-quiet Keelhaul." - Heavy Blog Is Heavy
"EL DRUGSTORE pumps sideways instru-metal that’s confrontational like Don Caballero and forceful like Mastodon — and sometimes deft like Mahavishnu Orchestra and gritty like Botch. In places Plague Ship soundtracks a cyclone carnival ride, all dizzying tempos and blurring sights, and follows riders as they disembark to stagger down the midway, dodge fest-goers and barfpiles, then come to a stop facedown behind the toilets. It’s wild! Check out our exclusive track 'The Natives Are Getting Useless,' which mimics the stream-of-consciousness sketch show weirdness of Mr. Show: one punchline acts as set up for the next and riffs aren’t exhausted so much as rent in half and stomped on." - MetalSucks