Secret Wars

Oddly enough, Secret Wars finds Oneida revealing many of their secrets through immense songs that sound fit for war. First off, Oneida’s hawkish sound is a front that works as a trench to mask their subtle precision playing. Hidden beneath the big static riffs and half-dead vocal style is a smart band which chooses to play tidy rockers rather than the flashy art songs they sound very capable of. Often considered to fit in with the “stoner rock” crowd, the eight-year-old Brooklyn band mixes 60s psychadelia and 70s rock heroism with their early 90s grunge attitude.  

Six years into their career, Oneida released what has become their signature album with 2002’s Each One Teach One. While the album didn’t live up to the commercial hype, it hit just in time to be grouped with the Queens of the Stone Age and The Liars, two bands that helped solidify this whole undefinable “stoner rock” thing. With the Queens of the Stone Age in a transitional period and The Liars selling themselves as a one-album fluke, Oneida’s sixth studio album in eight years strives to single-handedly keep the MC5’s lazy-boned, deadbeat-guitar sound alive. Secret Wars sounds very lean - with eight concise tracks spanning over 40 minutes, only the fourteen minute closer, “Changes in the City,” feels excessive.

Opening with the guitar-effect driven “Treasure Plane,” Secret Wars starts off with wasted-sounding vocals and a mood-enhancing guitar drone fit for last year’s great Desert Sessions Vol. 9 and 10 album. Next up is “Ceaser’s Column” which again relies on weird effects and concise instrumentation, although this time Oneida sound like a band ready for a fight, not an afternoon with the munchies. Wars sees its first flaws on the impressively played but overly aggressive-sounding “Captain Bo Dignifies the Allegations with a Response.” If a major label were promoting Secret Wars, I have no doubts that “Captain Bo” would be their choice for a single. Again, Oneida rely on heavy guitar effects; this time, however, the results sound generic, cheesy and downright annoying, tailor-made for a hit single.

The worst song on the album is quickly followed with what may be the best Oneida song to date, “Wild Horses.” The big, non-abrasive guitars perfectly suit the unusually catchy vocals and rhythm section which spirals into three-odd minutes of slacker heaven. “$50 Tea” is another annoyingly upbeat and aggressive song which earns it’s place on Wars only thanks to its Lee Ranaldo-jacked guitar stylings. If you’re going to steal, you may as well steal from the best.

Sonically, “The Last Act, Every Time” is a very impressive song that manages to be both quiet and harsh. Finally we get the Sabbath-esque “Winter Shaker,” which all but closes Wars out before the pointless 14-minute stoner jam, “Changes in the City.” Fourteen minutes of guitar braggadocio perfectly (if not painfully) ends one of 2004’s best guitar albums with a very loud, dull, drone of red-eyed soul.    6.5/10

Written by G. William Locke