Bastard of the Skies are from the UK and play Sludge, and they have teamed up with fellow UK Doomsters Grimpen Mire for this split.
And what a very nice cover they have for this split.
Bastard of the Skies are the first up, and they contribute 4 tracks to this release.
Their half of the split consists of Earthy sounding Sludge with a distinct inhuman quality to the vocals. Some good melodies make appearances and add depth.
The tracks are heavy lumps of solid matter and rumble along nicely. The band display some really good songwriting and this small collection of tracks are top notch.
Taking their cues from the usual suspects of Sludge; Bastard of the Skies entertain with their half of the split and obviously have a good ear for what fans of this kind of music want to hear.
Following on from that, the second half of the release is by Grimpen Mire who offer us 3 tracks.
They’re not wildly dissimilar from Bastard of the Skies, although whereas Bastard of the Skies sound quite coherent and solid, Grimpen Mire have more of a loose, dangerous feel to them.
Their contribution has more of an Eyehategod influence and successfully manages to sound scuzzed up, dirty and raging. The inclusion of some cleaner vocals is unexpected, however, but these work well.
At 40 minutes in length this is a longer-than-average split and one worth taking the time to explore.
Wonderbox Metal 