Local stoner-rock outfit Ruff Majik tear through the apocalypse with the swagger of seasoned pros in their latest album The Devil’s Cattle. Personal turbulence and a world-halting plague weren’t enough to get in the way of the band building on their already solid foundation and releasing an album of epic proportions.
The tone is set with “All You Need is Speed” as Johni Holiday and co. speed off into a world of debauchery, Holiday’s high-pitched vocals – reminiscent of Wolfmother’s Andrew Stockdale – adding a healthy dose of urgency.
That energy doesn’t dissipate as Ruff Majik blitz through songs like the furious “Heart Like an Alligator” and the supernatural-tinged “Who Keeps Score”, Evert Snyman’s vocals on the latter taking the sound into Queens of the Stone Age territory.
It isn’t all high-energy sludge ‘n roll, though, as they take a trip to the heavier side of the track with “Born to Be Bile”. Things also slow down considerably with the sprawling, shape-shifting “God Knows” which starts off as a piano-led confession before turning into pure catharsis. Ruff Majik don’t hold back in The Devil’s Cattle and the result is an album of controlled chaos that never ceases to surprise.
