2013/04/25 THE GREAT SABATINI (Ca) @ TOVARNA ROG

By Jon Cummins

As utterly awesome as the aforementioned record is, my major spin this week is Matterhorn from Montreal’s finest,the Great Sabatini, on No List Records. Almost since the advent of this col­umn, I’ve been singing the praises of these local sludge-slingers, and it seems that everybody else is finally catching on (though, oddly, mostly outside of Montreal). The Great Sabatini successfully stayed at arm’s length from all the comfy and cozy local genre “scenes” and just hunkered down and got on with it, and the result of their sweat and determination is an absolute stunner. Being an explosive live band, Sabatini have overcome the Herculean challenge of harnessing their panoramic sound and vitriol in the grooves—Matterhorn not only succeeds on both fronts, but actually manages to expand on them. If you wonder just how heavy, pounding, epic, beautiful and brutal music can get, while remaining fearless and challenging at every turn, you have to get turned on to this record. The Great Sabatini is one of the best and most progres­sive bands our city has to offer. Period.