From the opening riffs on the albums opener “Lie” you can’t help but notice there’s certainly something heavy coming and this was no surprise given that By Definition have recently toured with Zakk Wylde’s Black Label Society – which in itself gives you an idea of what to expect.
Although hailing from Brighton, the aforementioned track from By Definition is definitely rooted to a similar vein as BLS with vocalist Si Stechler sounding from the deep south of the US rather that the UK. Likewise in “Old Regrets” and “Russian Dolls” the duel guitars of Dan Shaw and Rob Tulley back up this comparison along with their solos, but this is solid stuff and the American influence comes naturally out of a passion for the music rather than anything contrived.
Then there’s the groove on “Legend” whereby there’s a very Clutch/Down feel complete with cowbells and the odd sample adding a slightly different dimension, followed by “Warrior” and a Phil Anselmo rant making “The Concerns of Mortal Man” an album that’s definitely going to make its mark on fans of stoner rock infused heavy metal.
This fittingly leads onto By Definition bringing down the tempo for the cunningly titled “Slow Jam”, which preceded by a brief interlude is a track with creepy guitars and slow build up showing the more out and out stoner rock elements before the vocals help round it off.
On the whole there may well be a classic southern rock thing going on here, but there are also some nice touches on the production helping to give a modern edge – whilst backing vocals on tracks such as “Intravenous” help give more layers to the heavy riffs.
Before the album comes to a close there’s still “Fooling No-One” with more killer guitars and ferocious vocals and “Z, MD” which has an almost Fear Factory’s “Obsolete” era about it, with the chorus sung rather than screamed, but still with plenty of angry shouting in-between making this release from By Definition something that’s certainly been given more than just the once over.
