CCMusic.com

• Track Listing

Two years after releasing the Frontier's Edge EP, The Budos Band are

returning with their first full-length since 2020's Long in the Tooth.

Titled simply VII, the new album sees them doing what they do best:

laying down hypnotic, horn-spiked grooves that menace and

mesmerize in equal measure.

Produced by Budos guitarist Tom Brenneck with Simon Guzmán

engineering, VII features 11 tightly constructed new tracks that draw

on the group's wide range of influences, sounding like only the Budos

can. It's music for getting down, for nighttime drives, and for alternate

headspaces a beguiling mix of mystery and rhythm that stands with

the formidable work they've released in their two decades of

recording.

VII was recorded in California and serves as The Budos Band's first

full-length album on Diamond West, the independent label founded in

2023 by Tankel and Brenneck. It's also the group's first album to

include instrumental contributions from percussionist Rich Tarrana,

who previously played in the Frightnrs. All told, it succeeds in opening

up some new sonic spaces while staying tethered to the intuitive,

unique musicality that made them such a sensation from the jump.