This is the third album from UK sludge metal band Allfather.
A Violent Truth is a 27-minute kick to the head. This is ugly sludge metal played in the way that that it should be played; raw, honest, and brutal.
Allfather play heartfelt music via the medium some of the heaviest and nastiest distortion, shouting, and screaming you’ll hear all year. Combining elements of hardcore, doom, and thrash into a virulently sludgy base, A Violent Truth reminds of some of the Grade A sludge that the UK was so good at producing in the early 00s. Having said that though, it’s also firmly a product of the here and now, and it does not like what it sees.
Looking wider than just the UK, if you take a mix of bands like Charger, Iron Monkey, Raging Speedhorn, Crowbar, High on Fire, Fistula, Ilsa, and Eyehategod, then you’ll have an idea of the riot of riffs, broken bottles, and filed teeth that A Violent Truth contains. Allfather don’t mess around.
The songs may be belligerent and full of bruising attitude, but they do mix in a dash of apocalyptic atmosphere alongside their aggression. This isn’t a one-dimensional assault, as Allfather have a variety of tools to go to work on you with, including a slew of melodic blades that are sharp and emotive.
Allfather may worship at the altar of The Riff, (and by crikey do they have some good riffs), but they also have a talent for constructing impactful songs out of them. A Violent Truth hits hard because of this. There’s only six tracks here, but each one of them has a malevolent personality all of its own.
Crushingly heavy, ferociously pissed off, and armed with riffs the size of mountains, A Violent Truth is an album that simply destroys. It’s damn good, in all of its destructive ways.
Essential listening for any fan of heavy, angry music.
Wonderbox Metal 