ALBUM REVIEW: Black Tongue Reverend - Upstate of Mind
Photo by Emilee Tulip
“‘Slow cruising in the right hand lane in my 98 Buick loaded down with cocaine,’ growls [Eric] Tulip as if he is singing into a CB radio that reeks of booze and cigarettes.”
Being familiar with the band, I was expecting some riff-heavy stoner rock, and downtuned doomy anthems on the new album from Black Tongue Reverend. Within the first seconds of “When The Reverend Comes To Town,” the first track from their latest album, Upstate of Mind, I knew that my intuition was correct and this album was going to rock.
The song starts with guitarist Mike Errichetto setting the pace with a steady bluesy riff. As bassist/vocalist Eric Tulip and Drummer Jason Nowak hit solitary accents in unison, the tone shifts from a bluesy feel, to an ambience of deep doom. I can’t help but hear the influence of early Sabbath on this track, especially as the first breakdown hits before the vocals. While the steady rhythm, confident delivery, and gloomy tone may be reminiscent of that first Black Sabbath album, Black Tongue Reverend remains wholly original.
What also stands out on this opener is Erichetto’s guitar solo. In contrast to the paced and patient groove laid down by Tulip and Nowak, Erichetto’s solo is blisteringly fast and precise. From hammers, taps and pull-offs to full-on sprints up and down the fret board, this particular guitar work utterly floored me.
“37 West” takes us on a road trip to Buffalo, albeit a dangerous one. “Slow cruising in the right hand lane in my 98 Buick loaded down with cocaine,” growls Tulip as if he is singing into a CB radio that reeks of booze and cigarettes. The drum work and bass line keeps their hands on the wheel the whole time while the guitar swerves and weaves throughout. It all comes to a head with Tulip screaming, “They’ll never take me alive,” before another killer Erichetto solo.
The opening three tracks of Upstate of Mind get you into a familiarity with Black Tongue Reverend’s sound. Slow and low doom-metal, with impeccable riffage. Then comes a one-two punch of experimentation with “The Trip Continues” and “Next Experiment In Vainglorious Mind.”
“The Trip Continues” is, for lack of a better word, a trip. It starts with a fade-in, the heavy groove already in motion. While this is a trick used almost to the point of over-saturation in metal songs of the ‘80s, it sounds amazing and even fresh in 2025. As the song builds, you expect it to take a heavy upturn, but it instead falls into a lovely guitar-forward melody that sounds different from anything Black Tongue Reverend have released before. Couple that with the full-on experimentation of “Next Experiment In Vainglorious Mind,” and you have what can only be described as an evolution in Black Tongue Reverend’s sound.
The album wraps up with a re-recording of a previous BTR song, “Chewing Stones,” (which was updated for the album with new drummer Nowak), “Quiet Desperation,” and the anthemic epic “You Are Here.”
Upstate of Mind proves to those who didn’t know, and affirms to those who did, that Black Tongue Reverend are at the top of the heap in the doom/stoner-rock world in the 518, and it’s only a matter of time before the rest of the world finds out, too.
Upstate of Mind is available now on all streaming platforms and Bandcamp.
