This is the second album by Stomach, a doom/sludge band from the US.
Containing 43 minutes of thoroughly obnoxious doom sludge nastiness, Low Demon is a hideous mix of doom, sludge, drone, noise, grindcore, industrial, and punk. Stomach, brought to us by current/ex-members of Weekend Nachos, know their way around the style, as becomes quickly apparent across these five tracks.
Low Demon is drenched in feedback and malevolence. It’s dark, grim, and heavy, and maintains a threatening, tense mood that draws the listener in.
After the sparse droning menace of opening track Dredged, Bastard Scum unleashes a visceral slab of punishment on us that’s ugly and harsh. It’s slow and relentless, and delivers the sort of doom sludge nightmarescape that’s suffocatingly moreish.
Get Through Winter is bleak and drenched in existential misery. In part it has a ferocious bite due to an increase in aggressive brutality, offering a different facet of Stomach to get devoured by. Oscillate doubles down on this, opening with grindcore intensity and raging fury, before falling into an abyss of lightless feedback and sludgy groove heaviness.
The final track is the monstrous 17-minute Shivers // Drafts. This track not only encompasses the horrific Stomach doom/sludge experience so far, but also pushes it further, with industrial enhancements that increase its killing capacity tenfold.
Low Demon is a great record that should absolutely find a home in the collection of a certain kind of music fan. If you’re a lover of bands such as Body Void, Eyehategod, Grief, Indian, Lord Mantis, Khanate, Primitive Man, etc., then this is for you.
Wonderbox Metal 