What is the one thing that we like about heavy music? The answer is easy: The Riff. New England's Hackman truly shares our sentiment and has decided to strip down everything else that comes in the way. If you always expect riffs in your music to have vocals and lead instruments to take its essence and steal the show, this clearly isn't for you. If on the other hand, you're the type that's already pretty damn kicked about this Karma to Burn reunion, you definitely must give these goons a shot.

With guitars and rare vocals supplied by Darryl Shepard from the awesome Milligram and Roadsaw , and a superlative rhythm section made up of bassist Jase and drummer Owen, these guys on their second album have achieved more than most other stripped down two/three piece bands could. Enterprises boasts of consistency, variety and working best within the self-set limits with no signs of monotony. The break-your-neck southern style uptempo grooves, the doom & gloom vibe, the chilled out, lethargic approach to songwriting, and churning out one catchy part after the other - it's all ingrained in your head by the time you're through with a couple of listens.

The band can do straight-up songs just like anyone else in the business, but they frankly peak with something like March into Victory. Stretched over 10 minutes, this is a more atmospheric, epic and more dynamic and doom-fueled take on things and elevates this band into achieving pure tonal and sonic perfection. Diversity seems to be the general idea here, and there are acoustic arpeggiated passages like the interlude track End of Men to give the listener a breather before the next heavy motherfucker comes in and tears a new one. This is a very solid album from Hackman full of heavy fuzzed-out guitars, distorted rumbling bass and big hitting drums showcasing the power of The Riff. Especially watch out for the bonus guitar-and-bass track hidden right at the end, once the last song War Gong gets over. This kills.

Label: Small Stone

Year of Release: 2009