Howling Giant – EP (10th Anniversary Edition)

by Mark 'Yeti' Richard · February 5, 2025

Howling Giant is a stoner metal/ psychedelic rock band from Nashville, Tennessee. The power trio has been active since 2014 and consists of Tom Polzine on guitar and vocals, Sebastian Baltes on bass, and Zach Wheeler on drums and vocals. The band’s releases are 2015’s Self Titled EP, 2016’s Black Hole Space Wizard: Part 1 EP, 2017’s Black Hole Space Wizard: Part 2 EP, 2019’s The Space Between Worlds, 2020’s Turned To Stone Volume II: Masamune & Muramasa (Split with Sergeant Thunderhoof), 2021’s Alteration EP, and 2023’s Glass Future. Howling Giant just released their 10th Anniversary Edition of their Self Titled EP (originally released on January 13th 2015) this past January 13th 2025. The album contains the four original EP tracks remastered, three 2012 demo tracks from their predecessor SKLDZR, a cover song from Ohio Express, and a spoken history segment called WZRDLF Origins. In total, the album has nine tracks and is forty two minutes long.

I was able to hear this on December 7th 2024, when I bought the CD from the band when they played a show at the Middle East, in Cambridge, Massachusetts (review here). I was lucky to witness the band play three out of four of the original EP songs live, along with some more current material also. It was an amazing set! I have always loved the Self Titled EP and witnessing those songs live was spectacular.

“Husk” opens the album with a phase guitar sound that crushes right into the heavy main riff. The vocals are double layered, both sung by guitarist Tom Polzine and drummer Zach Wheeler. The lyrics deal with space travel on this one and the riffs are fuzzy and flowing. The song has a nice unconfined rhythm throughout and has some nice chugging sounds half way through as well. The last minute ending sequence has some heavy stomp accents with high guitar squeals with double bass drumming also.

The second track “Whale Lord” is massive! It begins with a heavy low rumbling bass riff and percussive stick clicking. The guitar chord rings with the kick drum and then everything layers together into a crushing, colossal riff. It’s a heavy driving song that features both Polzine and Wheeler trading off on the vocals. Howling Giant was more striking on the riffs with this EP compared to their later material. This one was definitely more fuzz laden riff rock and had the classic crunchy and heavy groove sound fully integrated. You can definitely hear the starting nuances of the band’s more progressive music emerging with this one too. “Whale Lord” has twists of psychadelia wrapped in the song, especially around the 3:20 mark, when the music fades out and allows Polzine’s guitar to ring in spacy chords along to Wheeler’s stick clicking. Sebastian Baltes’ heavy Grand Funk bass playing joins in, as the band jams out for the rest of the song.

“Doug” is a straight up rocker that begins with Poline’s high octave guitar wankery. The cyberpunk-ish sounding beginning plows ahead in a hardcore style rhythm with some raunchy lyrics to boot. It’s a no frills banger of a song that starts fast and tapers off into stylistic percussion with layers of keyboards, enhanced with some cool guitar leads. The vocals are a nice mix of angst and melody. It’s a short song with a fierce dynamic. The fourth track is a six minute behemoth called “Camel Crusher”. The song is a heavy cascade of thick and sludgy doom. The sand storming menace is a devastating onslaught of fuzzy riffs. It features a spoken passage over the assembly of assaulting riffs and was the appropriate closer for the original EP.

The 10th Anniversary Edition EP continues on with 2012 demo tracks of “Husk”, and “Whale Lord “. It also includes a demo track called “Tusk Of The Thunder Mammoth”, which is also a very cool song. These three songs were originally from SKLDZR (Skulldozer), pre-Howling Giant. The sound quality is a little rough with a tingy quality sound and splashy cymbals. The bass guitar is also low in the mix, which is mostly noticeable on “Whale Lord”. However, I do enjoy hearing the origins of the songs and how they progressed from 2012 to 2015. “Yummy Yummy Yummy” is a 1968 classic cover song originally by Ohio Express. It’s a fun song and a cool addition to include on the album. The final track is a short biography narrated by Mike T. Kerr called “WZRDLF Origins”. It’s a brief history lesson on the band’s humble beginnings, meeting at Berklee College Of Music in Boston and forming SKLDZR and WZRDLF (Wizard Leaf Productions ). It’s a cool addition to the album that highlights the spirit of friends getting together and jamming while bands were being formed and setting up shows in the DIY ethos.

Howling Giant are a super tight sounding and talented band. The 10th Anniversary EP is a great album that shows us where it all started. These four original tracks remain as some of my favorite songs from the band. This is definitely a forward moving band that is progressing with every release, and this album constitutes that starting place.