Drofnosura are a Canadian doom/sludge metal band and this is their second album.
Drofnosura’s Ritual of Split Tongues is a colossal beast of an album. It’s a 63-minute monster, primarily comprised of four epic-length songs, and presents as a mutated entity of mountainous shapeshifting intensity. Continue reading “Drofnosura – Ritual of Split Tongues (Review)”
This is the debut album from Australian blackened doom/sludge band Ghostsmoker.
Playing a hideous stew of blackened sludge and doom metal, Ghostsmoker’s debut album Inertia Cult is a 42-minute endurance test – do you have what it takes to survive their onslaught of abrasive distortion and scathing darkness? Continue reading “Ghostsmoker – Inertia Cult (Review)”
This is the debut album from US sludge band Old Skin.
Wails of Ten Thousand is a 28-minute beast of crushingly filthy sludge metal nastiness. The promo blurb states that it is for fans of bans like Eyehategod, Fistula, and Coffins, and that it contains noise and death metal elements. Sold! At least in theory. In practice, is it actually any good? Continue reading “Old Skin – Wails of Ten Thousand (Review)”
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. Continue reading “Allfather – A Violent Truth (Review)”
Sloth Hammer are an experimental sludge/doom band from the UK. This is their second album.
No guitars, two vocalists, two electronicists, (is that a word?), two drummers, and plenty of bass, Sloth Hammer bring the pain on their second album across a colossal and punishing 78 minutes, recorded live and improvised. Continue reading “Sloth Hammer – Superbia Ira Acedia (Review)”
Owlcrusher are a blackened doom/sludge band from the UK and this is their debut album.
Here we have some truly ugly, colossally heavy music, the likes of which you don’t stumble upon too often. Which, for the listener’s sanity and well-being, is probably a good thing. Continue reading “Owlcrusher – Owlcrusher (Review)”
Razor Sharp Death Blizzard are from the UK and play hardcore.
The UK seems to have such a knack for producing some of the angriest, filthiest, nastiest extreme music out there, and Razor Sharp Death Blizzard are a great addition to the wealth of talent that’s available from the country.
This is 36 minutes of hardcore punk and ugly sludge metal that recalls a good mix of Continue reading “Razor Sharp Death Blizzard – You Will Burn (Review)”
This is the debut release from Kalloused, a UK blackened sludge/doom band.
Kalloused have a powerfully heavy sound that they still manage to insert nuance into when the need arises. This release features a plethora of textured riffs that manage to show a certain degree of subtlety and finesse even when they’re smashing your skull in.
The band have a black metal element Continue reading “Kalloused – Damn You Believer (Review)”
This is the début EP from US Sludge band Moros.
This is nasty stuff. Starting with a harsh feedback-squeal and followed by some dirty bass, Moros start as they mean to go on and establish themselves early as playing the kind of abrasive, nasty music that any lover of Sludge can get on board with.
The vocals are high-pitched and laced with poison, seemingly able to cut flesh with ease just by sound alone.
There are some choice riffs on this release and their bass-heavy sound is an instant hit with a bass-lover like me. Their percussive know-how is enhanced by the vocal attack of their singer so that everything works together to create tracks that really, really hit the mark.
The music takes the template as laid down by Eyehategod, infuses it with the dynamic musical know-how of a band like Fudge Tunnel, adds the bass-led stomp of bands like Palehorse and Ghold, and liberally sprinkles the passion and filth of bands like Charger and Burning Witch into the mix. The result? Passionate, ugly Sludge Metal that sits well in the genre and is highly enjoyable. If you like getting your ears cleaned out with acid, that is.
Loved it. Moros get a big thumbs up.
Cult of Occult are a Doom/Sludge band from France. This is their latest album.
This is a band that the word CRUSHING was designed to describe, (yes, in capitals no less). There are five songs here; 65 minutes of misanthropic content.
How to describe Cult of Occult’s nihilistic, hate-fuelled music? They essentially take all of the pissed off, angry highlights of Sludge Metal, (Eyehategod, Charger), and draw them out to epic Doom lengths, resulting in colossal slabs of misery-drenched heaviness that are so caustic and scathing that the songs seem to have a painfully physically presence.
It’s not all ugly belligerence though, as the band skilfully navigate these seas of filth in ways that seem to harness the darkness into tsunamis of torment that crash and build onto and into each other, creating thick, distressing atmospheres.
These songs are deceptively simple though, and upon closer inspection you see that there’s more going on within the oceans of distortion and heaviness than you might think on first glance. The tides of riffs and groove-laden guitars hide a songwriting-skill that belies their nasty, noxious nature.
The singer’s impressive snarl is just shades of anger and repressed rage given form and feeling. Coupled with the Doom/Sludge of the music it seems it’s finally getting the outlet it needs to spew forth its venomous diatribes.
The dirge-like, repetitive nature of the relentlessly crushing music is hypnotic in its delivery and Five Degrees of Insanity is one of those releases that can do no wrong for me.
This is addictive like the worst of drugs. You don’t just listen to this, you feel it.
Wonderbox Metal 