For every good band, there are hundreds of thousands of shitty imitators. MOGUL would mostly like to be QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE during the "Rated R" era. It's a shame that every song on "Build Me a Hunchback" is like the meat and other stuff that goes into sausages. Sure the meat is great when it's hot and cooked, preferably on a barbecue. Realistically though, that meat is just sweepings of the leftover scraps from the butcher shop floor. Simply put, this is filler material. There's no attempt made to stand out from the rest of the stoner crowd. Every song sounds like it has been lifted from a better band and then watered down. "Return the Blues" has a slight FU MANCHU feel, and the riffs and vocal styling on "Narrow Shoes" is lifted straight from a recent Josh Homme textbook. "Genie 18" is more of the same but longer and harder to sit through. If MOGUL had cut this song from seven minutes down to three, it would have been much more effective. "Hold On" attempts to vary proceedings with an opening power chord but then the band's rhythm section comes in it's back to repetitive patterns and lyrics again; "Sidekick" and "All of My Bleeding" look longingly with envy toward the classic KYUSS records.

The production is great but these songs convey a vibe more sterile than a vasectomy clinic run by Lorena Bobbit. It'd be a lie to suggest this album is vital for fans of the previously mentioned bands; It's likely they already own the albums from which MOGUL crafted their sound, and this album will fall to the back of the pile in no time. Next barbecue, choose steak.

- Carr

OFFICIAL SITE: myspace.com/mogulbe

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