Sludge – Page 69 – Wonderbox Metal

Mortals – Cursed to See the Future (Review)

Mortals are from the US and play Black Metal. This is their second album.

This is a Crusty form of Black Metal that takes the Darkthrone sound and kind of crosses it with a band like High on Fire to create something a bit different yet recognisable instantly.

This is an album of long songs that are primitive but not in a negative way. There is a sort of primal power to the riffs and energy that the band offer the listener.

The vocals are serrated rasps that call out to the darkness and the terror within. They’re ably produced and a satisfying listen, the same of which can be said for the album as a whole really.

The song lengths give the Darkthrone-esque riffs time to germinate and seed, allowing the band to develop them fully.

The tracks are bleakly emotive and hit the spot whether the band are playing fast and sharp, slow and dirge-like or mid-paced and rocking. Whatever, it all hinges around razor sharp riffing and a guitar tone to die for.

A very nice release indeed. Old-School Black Metal with a helping of Sludge and arrogance. Just what the doctor ordered.

Wolvhammer/Krieg – Split (Review)

Both Wolvhammer and Krieg are from the US. Wolvhammer specialise in Blackened Sludge and Krieg play Black Metal.

Wolvhammer offer us a track first called Slaves to the Grime.

This is 6 minutes of Blackened Sludge hate. The band instantly sound confident and quickly lock into a heavy groove.

Vocals are spat out with venom and belligerent riffs lead the way before being replaced with apocalyptic melodies and downbeat pounding. Mid-song the tempo picks up but keeps the same feelings generated so far.

A most enjoyable song and a worthy contribution to the split.

Krieg are up next with Eternal Victim.

This is shorter than the previous track at half the length; only 3 minutes. Krieg are a veritable institution in their own right, and their track is no disappointment. It’s dark and powered by Blackness. The riffs are very good and the entire song seems over far too quickly.

A short release but definitely worth a listen; another definite split to add to your collection.

Lockersludge – Drawing Lessons (Review)

Lockersludge are from the UK and play Metal with Hardcore/Sludge influences.

This is an interesting merger of some different styles, all wrapped up in a Metal package.

Combining the rawkus nature of Old-School Hardcore with a Sludge influence the band do well in not instantly sounding like anyone else.

The tracks bound along with this unusual melding of styles and remind of 90’s Century Media acts like My Own Victim and Gurd with a bit of a non-Southern Eyehategod feel to some of the riffs. It’s quite a nostalgic feeling that Lockersludge give me and I find myself liking this band a great deal.

The vocals are belligerent and melodic at the same time. Again there is a curious mixing of styles; essentially based in Hardcore-land, they nonetheless display melodic sensibilities as well as hints at a more Sludge background.

Lockersludge are bravely and wisely forging their own path through today’s over-saturated musical waters and I’ve found this release highly competent and highly enjoyable.

Oh, and they also have a song called The Beard of Doom. Win.

Check them out.

Eleanora – EP (Review)

Eleanora are from Belgium and play Sludge/Post-Hardcore. This is their début release.

Intense and fierce; Eleanora pour their hearts into these two tracks and the result is as scathing as it is satisfying.

Dark melodies and throat-ripping vocals are the order of the day. Heavy walls of guitars and solid drums crash and damage the landscape around them.

The vocal performance is impressively energetic and violent. Both the music and the vocals are gloriously passionate and emotive.

This is a short EP of only two tracks, a mere taster really. Consider my palette firmly whetted. This is a superb display of Post-Hardcore/Screamo-influenced Sludge and if this is anything to go by the eventual album that they will hopefully release should see the band become major players in this style of music.

It’s always a great feeling discovering a new, excellent band.

Interview with Servants of the Mist

Servants of the Mist are about to release their latest EP Gross Knowledge of Genital Mutilation, and in its wake a creeping misery and despair does follow. It left such a deep impression that I felt compelled to probe deeper…

Give us a bit of history to Servants of the Mist

Servants of the Mist have existed in some form since 2010. We are from west central Florida. We are keen observers and travelers to dark dimensions. We are in touch with demons who work through and love us. We have opened for Danzig, Jucifer, Obituary and Eyehategod. We create sounds of suffering.

Where did your name come from?

The name came from a lyric in one of our earliest demos. The lyric was based on the 1992 Dracula movie directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Gary Oldman.

What are your influences?

GG Allin, Melvins, Cough, Electric Wizard and Burning Witch. The greatest influence has been life itself. All the questions that can’t be answered. The hunger of the beast. The things we are forced to live with.

What are you listening to at the moment that you would like to recommend?

…I am always listening to the sound of my own voice telling my head things. I don’t hate anyone enough to recommend they know my brain or have my secrets.

What did you want to achieve with your new release

I want to promote thought and conversation. I want people who listen to realize their own hell. I want them to indulge their physical pleasures because the master won’t allow you love. People like us are ruled by their demons. I predict that right and wrong will be much harder to interpret. I believe we have a choice.

Most bands of this particular style of Sludge have a distinct Southern tinge to the riffs, yet this is largely absent from your sound. Was this a conscious decision to differentiate yourselves or was it a more natural occurrence?

The songs come from the soul. I am in an emotional prison. Where I exist there is very little color or life. This is what influences the sound. I don’t make a conscious choice to live here in exile. I don’t make a conscious effort to exclude a southern tinge.

How do your songs take shape?

I write most all the songs. I then take them to the band. We bring all the pieces together.

In your songs is it important to you to push a heavily negative vibe or is this a feeling that just happens regardless?

I have had hope and believed in love. I have been crushed by the need to be human. It is in the need for happiness that hope will blatantly betray you. The music speaks of the consequences of betrayal. It speaks of the evolution. The transformation from human to monster.

Would you change anything if you had to do the recording over again?

I am very critical of my own work. I would say that there is always something I think I could have done better. I also like that we don’t take much time or over produce our music in the studio. We plug in, play and what comes out is as real as it gets.

How do you see your songs/direction developing in the future?

That depends completely where I’m at emotionally. I hope to write ballads that celebrate romance and love. I fear though that I will always exist in the world of shadows. I have found a home in the chaos.

What does the future hold for Servants of the Mist?

The future is futile. We will continue to celebrate madness. We will dream of you. We will hate you. We will continue on until death takes us to oblivion.

Ed Tobar…guitars, founder and father of Servants.

Servantsofthemist.bandcamp

Servants of the Mist – Gross Knowledge of Genital Mutilation (Review)

This is the latest EP from US Sludge/Doom Metal band Servants of the Mist.

The EP is 25 minutesin length and after the perfunctory intro we’re into the feedback-drenched first song Undeserving, which at just under 12 minutes serves as the centrepiece of the release.

The music is crushing, monolithic Doom with a corrupted, rotten Sludge veneer and a core of pure hatred.

We get bowel-loosening deep vocals and piercing high-pitched ones, both sound great and complement the music perfectly.

A deep aura of misery pervades these tracks and the band do all they can to punish and obliterate the listener with their steady, slow assault.

This is a really enjoyable form of dank Doom that just won’t give up; the strongly oppressive feeling of the tracks makes for a compelling release that sticks in the mind long after the last foetid chord has faded.

The band have enough talent that whether they are playing agonisingly slow Doom or slightly-more-upbeat Sludge they do it with obvious passion and with riffs to die for.

Negatively emotive and bleakly enticing; Servants of the Mist really know how to write a good Doom tune.

I mean, honestly; if you’re at all into this kind of music what’s not to like here?

Insense – De:Evolution (Review)

Insense are from Norway and play a highly developed form of Modern Metal. They combine elements of multiple genres of heavy music, from Djent to Thrash to Sludge to Progressive Metal and others in between.

Well this is very nice indeed. Heavy, emotive and not afraid of striding boldly into territories avoided by a lot of bands.

The vocals are agonised cries, soft crooning, semi-cleans, powerful melodics, gruff shouting…essentially whatever the song needs; it’s a very personal and distinctive performance that immediately makes apparent the man’s talent. The moment his vocals make an entrance on the first track Part I- Conception I’m hooked straight away. This keeps up for the rest of the album and his vocals bleed charisma and character.

The music doesn’t slack behind either; none of the songs are especially long but every one of them seems committed to ringing out every last drop of emotion and feeling from the guitars. The tracks are all tightly focused balls of energy and in the hands of this clearly talented band there’s no need for longer songs – there’s absolutely no filler here.

Reference points? Wide ranging really; I can hear bits of In Flames, Fear Factory, Devin Townsend, Meshuggah, Mnemic, Slipknot, Darkane, Nevermore…I could go on, but you get the idea; polished, diverse and heavy whilst retaining melodics and soul. A smattering of modern European Power Metal; a bit of Djent in the riffs; wildly energised heavy riffing; stirring and memorable vocals…so much about this recording can be praised.

The sound is suitably huge and massive with everything coming through crystal clear and every sludgy riff sounding crushing and effective.

Quite frankly this album is an absolute revelation. If you were to cut it open it would have the words QUALITY stamped all the way through it in big letters.

Heartily recommended; you need to get this album.

Fange – Poisse (Review)

Fange are from France and play Sludge Metal. This is their first release.

Ooooohhhh this is has got one Hell of a sexy, filthy, fuzzbastard sound! This is the kind of dirty Sludge I like!

Big beats and harsh, swampy riffs combined with feedback and desolate Doom atmospheres means the songs are like trawling though a mire, (Fange = mire in French). You are struggling for air as the boggy grime seeps into your pores and gets under your skin and into every orifice. Doesn’t sound very nice? It isn’t, but then Sludge should never be nice.

There are some great, bouncy riffs here in addition to the slower onslaughts. Cloches Fendues is a great example as it alternates between a dirty Stoner-esque riff and apocalyptic Doom. Top stuff.

The vocals are low in the mix like something just under the surface. Shrieking, snarling, chanting, beseeching, shouting, spitting, vomiting; who knows what they’re actually doing but suffice to say that the singer’s clearly into it.

Hidden behind the miasma of unclean riffing the band actually have a firm grasp of atmosphere. Ammoniac displays a masterful use of subtle tension to greatly enhance the feeling of danger that the song already gives off.

A good amount of variety, violent playfulness and content sees this release firmly in the winner’s category; 29 minutes of Sludge Metal that takes the standard Eyehategod template, covers it in a tonne of sewage and plays with the remains.

For fans of ugly music done right.

Favourite Track: Suaire. Sludge-tastic.

Tombs – Savage Gold (Review)

Tombs are a Metal band from the US and this is their third album.

They play a style of underground Metal that mixes Classic Metal riffs with influences from Death Metal, Hardcore and Sludge. The result is Tombs.

Another way of looking at it is to imagine a band like Doomriders only have them violated by Death Metal and covered by Sludge Metal; a rocking sensibility that’s as heavy and nasty as can be. Again, the result is Tombs.

Not many bands are playing this mix of styles; apart from Tombs there are only a handful of others, including the great Serpent Eater.

The band open with Thanatos; it has a curious sound mixing Doom-laden Post-Metal riffage with prime blast beats and throat-straining vocals. The rest of the album is equally impressive and takes aspects of these differing genre styles in lesser or greater extents to create a varied, interesting and very satisfying release.

The sound is immense and as heavy as Hell. All of the instruments are clear and identifiable and the entire recording is as sharp as a knife.

A real sense of horror and evil pervades the roots of this album; this manifests itself in the actual songs sometimes as blatant misanthropy and hatred, and others as a more nuanced disgust.

There’s a lot of longevity in this album. Start your descent into the Tombs now.

Hashed Out – Hashed Out (Review)

Hashed Out are from Canada and play angry Hardcore.

This is violent music that’s noisy and Crusty. A hint of Grind, a smattering of Metallic fury, a good Hardcore base and even a touch of Sludge here and there – Hashed Out play music that’s full of rage and bile.

The singer shouts and spews vitriol across the 6 tracks and keeps the intensity up for the full 15 minutes playing time.

The songs may be short and furious but they have some hooks in them that keep you coming back for more. This reminds me of a more extreme version of some of the 90’s Metallic Hardcore bands like My Own Victim; the sense of songwriting that’s heavy but still catchy is similar, only with added Crust, filth and blasting.

Think of a Punk band swallowed by Eyehategod and powered by Grinding Crust. The songs stick around and the singer in particular is very memorable. In a sea of mediocrity Hashed Out stand tall.

This is an EP worth getting hold of.