Sludge – Page 57 – Wonderbox Metal

Tides of Sulfur – Extinction Curse (Review)

This is the début album from Tides of Sulfur, a death/sludge metal band from the UK.

Like The Dead, Tides of Sulfur combine death and sludge metal together into a hideous, swampy mass. Also like The Dead, it’s hard to know whether to categorise them as death metal or sludge metal. Essentially it doesn’t really matter, I suppose, as the band manage to provide a pretty good synthesis of the two on Extinction Curse.

This is heavy, heavy, heavy. Continue reading “Tides of Sulfur – Extinction Curse (Review)”

Interview with Nadja

Nadja’s stunning 41 minute album Sv is a masterclass in tense atmosphere and relentless smouldering soundscapes. As a highly prolific band that have released a plethora of quality material, Sv stands up there as one of their best pieces of work and should ideally be required listening for any discerning music fan. I had the privilege to quiz Aidan Baker, 50% of Nadja, about the release…

For those who are unfamiliar with your band – introduce yourself!

Nadja is a duo of Aidan Baker (guitars, vocals, drum machine) and Leah Buckareff (bass, vocals). We make music that has been variously called metalgaze, drone-doom, and (our preferred term) dreamsludge. This is music which incorporates elements of doom metal and industrial with the melodicism and textures of shoegaze and experimental/ambient music. Continue reading “Interview with Nadja”

Warped Cross – Abbot of Unreason (Review)

Warped Cross are a sludge metal band from Germany and this is their début album.

This is underground filthy sludge metal that takes inspiration from bands like Eyehategod, Crowbar, Down, Corrosion of Conformity, Cathedral and Electric Wizard. There’s a hint of, (dirtied-up), grunge in their sound, (not too dissimilar from the recent Boss Keloid album), as well as some pinches of old-school punk. There’s even a touch of Type O Negative in places.

This is raw and utterly unpolished, but Continue reading “Warped Cross – Abbot of Unreason (Review)”

Rue des Cascades – Odes to Love, Flames to Paris (Review)

This is the début album from this Swiss post-hardcore/sludge band.

There are only two tracks on this release, but lasting 39 minutes in total there’s more than enough content to keep people happy. Although, as we’ll see, happiness might not be the best term used in conjunction with the music on here.

So what do we have here, then? Rue des Cascades play music that combines ambient/post-rock quietness with louder post-hardcore/sludge sections. This is quite atypically done, though, and isn’t a case of simply juxtaposing clean/distorted or Continue reading “Rue des Cascades – Odes to Love, Flames to Paris (Review)”

Cough – Still They Pray (Review)

This is the third album from Cough, a doom metal band from the US.

Cough. It’s a funny name for a band. Still, I’ve heard worse, a lot worse.

If you’re a fan of bands like Yob, Electric Wizard, Sleep, Candlemass and the like, then you’ll probably already know that Cough create the kind of repetitive, hypnotic doomscapes that you’re gonna love. Continue reading “Cough – Still They Pray (Review)”

Interview with Raging Speedhorn

After being away for far too long, the UK’s mighty Raging Speedhorn are finally back in action with the equally mighty Lost Ritual. John Loughlin, (one half of the ban’s vocal duo), brought me up to speed with everything going on in the Speedhorn camp…

Introduce us to Raging Speedhorn!

Raging Speedhorn are 6 guys playing music they love and having fun doing it. We sometimes enjoy a beer or 2 while doing this, we played shows and released albums between 1998 and 2008, had a 6 year break then started to play shows again in 2014, we’ve now recorded a new album and are ready get back out there and do it all again.

What are your influences?

We all listen to a lot of different music so it’s kinda hard to pin point influences but you can hear a lot of them in our music if you listen for it. Continue reading “Interview with Raging Speedhorn”

Nails – You Will Never Be One of Us (Review)

This is the third album from this US grindcore band.

Nails are an intense band. On You Will Never Be One of Us they take a grindcore base and add elements of hardcore and sludge metal into the mix, flawlessly creating a 22 minute album that wipes the floor with most of the competition.

The band’s dense, thick sound is almost physical, and played Continue reading “Nails – You Will Never Be One of Us (Review)”

Wren – Host (Review)

Wren are a post-metal/sludge band from the UK. This is their latest EP.

We know Wren from their very enjoyable split with Irk, and I was eager to catch up with their latest release to see how the band are progressing.

The answer seems to be that they are progressing very well, thank you.

These tracks continue to Continue reading “Wren – Host (Review)”

Druids – Cycles of Mobeum (Review)

Druids are a doom/sludge metal band from the US and this is their latest album.

Druids take elements of modern bands like Mastodon and Behold! The Monolith and infuse them with an earlier style of doom and blues, as produced by bands like Earth and Black Sabbath.

There’s a quality level of musicianship on Cycles of Mobeum, and this Continue reading “Druids – Cycles of Mobeum (Review)”

Raging Speedhorn – Lost Ritual (Review)

Raging Speedhorn are a sludge metal band from the UK. This is their fifth album.

After their ultimately very enjoyable, but quite different, fourth album Before the Sea Was Built, the band called it a day. After a self-resurrection, the mighty Raging Speedhorn have now returned with their latest release.

Questions abound – what will it sound like? What kind of style have they embraced? Well, the only thing to be done is to press play and find out… Continue reading “Raging Speedhorn – Lost Ritual (Review)”