II
II gives Fuzz more room to develop their heavy guitar rock. The riffs remain large and the bass stays firm beneath the music, but the band let songs take different directions more often. Melodic passages, tempo changes and longer solos offer more than a sequence of loud entrances. That extra room produces strong moments, although it also makes the album lengthy.
Rat Race and Pollinate give the familiar approach considerable force. The guitars retain their dark early-hard-rock character while the rhythm keeps moving clearly. On Pipe and Bringer of Light, changing tempos introduce more restlessness. The band handle those shifts tightly enough to preserve connections without making every part predictable. Their weight comes with a useful sense of movement.
Let It Live begins from the bass and allows calmer singing before the guitar parts expand. It uses a lighter melodic side without surrendering all its weight. Say Hello draws heavily on the drums and a particularly accessible melody. Such moments prevent the record from depending entirely on the thickness of its guitars, giving the heavier material something to push against.
Silent Sits the Dust Bowl initially brings greater calm through its strings. When the track later opens up, the familiar distortion gains extra impact. The long closing title track puts more trust in the musicians' endurance. Their interplay can sustain a great deal, although every excursion does not necessarily make the underlying song more interesting.
With fourteen tracks and over an hour of music, II demands substantial time. A shorter selection could have brought the strongest ideas together more sharply. The songwriting also advances less than the larger sound suggests. Yet the album convinces when rhythm, melody and guitar work keep moving together. Fuzz have enough confidence in one another to open the riffs up and make something worthwhile from that freedom.
