“The Grizzled Mighty was formed in the fiery belly of an active volcano”, begins the latest biography of this Seattle-based duo of Ryan Granger (vocals, guitar) and Lupe Flores (drums). Their latest outing, Closed Knuckle Jaw, makes good on that description right from the outset, with the Southern rock-indebted riffing of “Chantael”. In fact, despite their rainy Pacific Northwest environs, the Grizzled Mighty sound like they’d fit snugly in a Nashville dive bar. Dirty guitar distortion and hip-shakin’ rhythms (“Miles of Cocaine”) rise to the forefront of the duo’s music. All of the tunes here are given firm grounding in the tight interplay between Granger and Flores; like the famed drum ‘n’ bass duo Death from Above 1979, having only two members allows each player to focus his or her energy on the other, resulting in an undeniable dynamic between the two.
The band only gave PopMatters only this comic teaser regarding the album: “It’s coming at you like a freight train… but instead of wheels, it has biscuits… and instead of freight it has gravy… It’s a gravy train with biscuit wheels.”
Closed Knuckle Jaw is out now via Red Bull Sound Select.