Since making their Daptone debut nearly a decade ago, The Budos Band have mastered the art of staying the course in the evolution of their brassy, Afrobeat-inspired instrumental funk. Even when they color outside the lines, such experiments never stray from the 10-piece group’s original recipe. However, on this excellent fourth full-length, the band darkens up their trademark sound to reflect its sinister title—an old Hebrew biblical term for animal sacrifice. Burnt Offering is by far their most electric album to date, with guitarist Tom Brenneck’s fuzzed-out, Sabbath-inspired licks front and center across
such heady, hard-driving workouts as “The Sticks,” “Black Hills” and the freaky title cut, which utilizes the same kind of tape machine used by Pink Floyd in the Syd days. The Budos boys mean serious business this time.