Sometimes, the second impression is the one that counts.
I gotta be honest. My first impression of this record, 2/3 of the way through it, was pretty meh. Not because of the Looney Tunes character with a similar name as the band’s (“I say, I say, I say”), but mainly because of the long stretch of filler also-ran tunes at its heart. There’s also not much distinctive about their Mastodon-meets-Blues-Rock-Metal-bar-band sound. Vocalist Chuck Dukehart (also the drummer) doesn’t bring a whole of singing talent to the mic, so his voice doesn’t invite the listener in for a deeper connection - - but hold on - - because what he does bring is a shitload of spunk and grit, and that’s a tradeoff I’ll take any day.

The moral of the story: sometimes an album’s charms are found in the second listen, not the first. I’d still say that the middle set of tunes on this album are forgettable, but the first few are pretty good - - and the closing four are pretty excellent. Since we’re in full disclosure mode: I’d already kinda checked out on this one, when late-album track, “Staring Down the Demons” kicked in, with its transfixing, weird, QotSA-esque melody, and suddenly, I was all the way back in. The rest of the tunes that follow this one - - “Gone Up in Smoke,” “The Buzzard,” and “Death Will Tremble” remain at that high bar; “Death Will Tremble” has a great, smokey vibe, and proves to be a pretty solid album closer. These four all interesting enough to make me want to relisten to the first 2/3 of the record again.
On second listen, I had to admit that I’d missed the boat on the first two songs, “In Due Time” and “Cut the Chord.” They’re both ass-kicking, stomping tunes, which lead to a cool, unwashed little acoustic instrumental in “AVE!” I do still feel like the album sags in the middle, to its detriment, but the bookends make the project plenty worthwhile.
One final very important and horribly tragic note on “Awaken to Destroy:” Bassist Rev. Jim Forrester was shot in an apparent robbery gone wrong in December 2017; the incident reportedly took place outside of the tattoo shop where he worked. Sadly, he did not live to see this album released. RIP.