Kevin Bronson on June 14th, 2011

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Band bios are full of lore, much of which should be enjoyed for entertainment value only. But even if the story behind War Widow is only partially true, it’s one of my favorites: Jon Peloso and Eric Blackwell met in a bar fight in which they were both defending a drag queen, a brawl that sent Russel to the hospital, and when Blackwell visited later, the pair bonded over “Steve Albini, baseball, homemade beer and early ’80s heavy metal.” Good stuff, all of it tangential to the fact that War Widow is into some dirty, heavy stuff – dark tunes with a punk/blues bottom end and grimy synths, almost like something Greg Dulli would’ve tried if he were a Sunset Strip thrasher back in the day and sang an octave higher. War Widow’s music was produced by Mellowdrone main man Jonathan Bates, whose own new project Big Black Delta mucks up its synths as well. War Widow’s debut album will be available late this month in all its vinyl splendor via Coming Home Records.

||| Download: “No Means Yes”