Fuzz Evil – Smear Merchants

by Mark 'Yeti' Richard · March 31, 2025

Fuzz Evil are from Sierra Vista, Arizona and started in 2014. The music is a mix of heavy fuzzed out rock with doom, psych, and stoner metal. The band currently consists of Wayne Rudell on guitar and vocals, Joseph Rudell on bass and backing vocals, Cajun Adam on drums and vocals, and Preston Jennings on baritone guitar. They have currently released five albums including: 2016’s Self Titled, 2017’s Chapter 7- Second Coming Of Heavy (split with Switchblade Jesus), 2018’s High On You, 2023’s New Blood, and their latest 2025’s Smear Merchants. Smear Merchants was released on Desert Records on March 21st 2025 and contains ten tracks in about forty five minutes.

Smear Merchants is the first full length album that I have listened to from Fuzz Evil. Prior to this release, I have heard a few random songs but that’s about it. The buzz around this band was decent and I was intrigued with what they were all about. I decided to just wait until the album was fully released before I had a listen. Wow, this is an amazing record! There is so much happening in these songs that it requires multiple listens to somewhat absorb what this band is about. I love when artists are doing such interesting and unique things musically. Fuzz Evil has a varied sound that can be all out fuzz with stoner grooves, crushing doom, full tilt heavy psych, atmospheric with progressive noise rock components, and driving hardcore punk and metal. All of these ingredients and more are found within these songs which makes for an engaging and enchanting experience.

“The Fraile Mourning Of Eternity” is a quick seventeen second acoustic guitar intro that drifts into “Wanderer’s Wake”. “Wanderer’s Wake” begins with the guitar and has a few bass and drum accents starting things off. The rhythm kicks in with busy drums by Cajun Adam, performing clusters of fills throughout. Preston Jennings is playing a nice flowing rhythm as Wayne Rudell is texturing the song with melodic leads. The vocals are mostly clean sounding on this one and the riffs are very heavy and expansive when everyone joins in. The fuzz is plentiful as are the dynamic and progressive leads. The thick and heavy bass tones by Joseph Rudell are also massive. The flow of the song is fantastic as the band dazzle in the stoner grooves with innovative sounds and creative execution. Some aggressive vocals appear towards the end of the track courtesy of drummer Cajun Adam, which gives the tune a raging evil twist. Right from the start, Fuzz Evil are incorporating ingenious soundscapes that really captured my interest. “Doomsayer’s Lament” is a dark atmospheric composition filing in some heavy distorted chugs with some freakish weaves of ambient noise rock. The short instrumental segways right into “The Juice Is Loose”. On this fourth track, Fuzz Evil integrates some infectious blues styling leads on this excellent stoner classic. The track has great singing from Wayne Rudell, with backing vocals from his brother, bassist Joseph Rudell. The music is alluring and ambitious and covers a lot of territory on this five minute monster. The leads are incredible throughout the whole song, shredding on some blues licks and delivering sinister squealing later into the song. The mood changes in the music going from smooth to menacing and in a moments notice.

“Sermons Of The Defiant” boasts a riotous hardcore aggressive sound with some angry angst vocals of “I wanna fight the pope, I wanna fight the pope!” in the verses. The chorus shifts into a more clean and catchy vocal hook. The just under two minute track spews some diabolical vocals at the end as it leads right into the title track. “Smear Merchants” has a captivating and nefarious metal sound that spawns into ambient and psychedelic sounds. It further erupts into a heavy wall of fuzzy doom, splintering in angular beats and phased out noises and melodies. Fuzz Evil seamlessly blend in a wide range and diversification of music throughout the Smear Merchants record. It really sounds like a well crafted and thought out album through and through. As is the case with the seventh track entitled “Progressions Of The Black Sun”. It’s a mystifying and unique example of their brand of progressive doom. The brilliant instrumentations of heavy, melodic, and atmospheric sounds are remarkable. There are layers upon layers of deep sonic textures embedded into this one.

“Under The Starlit Grave” has a huge doom blanket draped over a stoner rhythm. The band relinquish a heavy fuzz drenched sound with the added in ambient fixings. Towards the end of the track, the music fades out and the sounds of cymbal crashes and stick clicks are comprised. The song then returns to the bashing of doom as it closes out. I love how unpredictable this band is and how they sometimes create pockets of space to fill with unusual sounds. It always drives me to listen to more and try to grasp the audio illusions that my brain has encountered. The ninth track, called “How To Vibe Alone” is a colossal! The seven minute mammoth track is chock full of fuzz driven doom. The vocals carry along nicely with the song and the instrumentation is stellar. “How To Vibe Alone” has a hypnotic flow throughout its runtime and builds up to a devastating ending with sludge filtered rhythms and tortured heavy vocals. The combination of vocal styles is well suited and not overdone. The sound quality on Smear Merchants is superb and the band does their own recording which is remarkable.

The tenth and final track is called “Whispers From The Abyss”. The song has a slow atmospheric contour for the first three minutes and forty eight seconds and then the rest of the instruments make a brief presence until everything just fades away. The music is dark and ethereal and it’s a suitable ending for an extraordinary record. Smear Merchants unfold many musical elements and transitions throughout its forty five minute run time. The band have crafted in many nuances of sounds, some of which are very short and a few that are epically longer. Fuzz Evil are an exceptional band that should satisfy a lot of fans of varying musical interests. They are creating music that is original and fully immersive like nothing I have heard before. I am completely buying what these Fuzz Evil Smear Merchants are selling us.