Sludge – Page 69 – Wonderbox Metal

Mothersloth – Moribund Star (Review)

Mothersloth are from Spain and this is their début album. They play (mostly) Instrumental Stoner/Doom Metal.

This album combines Doom, Sludge and Stoner with a bit of Progressive Rock to create an album that is much better than most albums without a vocalist has any right to be.

The band seem to have a finely judged sense of dynamics and pacing and the songwriting is of a very high standard, especially considering this is only their first album.

They have immense heavy riffs that are also catchy and memorable, as has to be the case for an instrumental band of this type. They’re not entirely predictable riffs either as they do throw in the odd curveball and unexpected touch here and there.

With a crisp, clear sound the band get to shine strongly as the groovy sounds roll out of the speakers.

If the band merely concentrated on the Stoner side of their sound this would be a good release, but it’s the fact that they also incorporate other styles that brings things up to another level. The tempo and time changes, the more Progressive riffs and the more complex arrangements that complement the basic structure of this style makes for a compelling listen.

The final song Dry Tears does actually feature vocals. These are clean and confident; like the rest of the album they’re perfectly judged and executed.

This album has surprised me with just how good it is. I highly recommend this for anyone into any style of heavy music. If they can keep this level of quality up and get a bit more exposure then I can easily imagine big things in the future for this band. Top work.

Sorxe – Surrounded by Shadows (Review)

Sorxe are from the US and play Sludge/Doom.

Two bassists? Layered vocals? Textured soundscapes? Heavy as fuck Doom? Yes please!

Sorxe have a crushing sound that’s befitting of a band who have double the normal number of bass guitars. This is as monolithic and colossal as you might imagine. The music is expansive with Progressive Doom tendencies and has a warm and heavy sound. Surrounded by Shadows has strong ambitions and the talent to see them through.

Special note should be made of the vocals, as they are diverse and wide ranging in their style. The singer shouts and bellows his voice raw, uses powerful semi-cleans and even manages soft crooning. It’s extremely impressive.

The songs on this album combine the unbearably heavy with the richly evocative and highly emotive. The band seem adept at switching from crushing passages to sections of energetic feeling seamlessly. Each song is highly accomplished and the band have truly unleashed something special.

The instruments are all used creatively and the synth effects add a further layer to their already involved sound.

Surrounded by Shadows combines elements of bands like Neurosis, Ufomammut, Electric Wizard, Yob, Isis and Mastodon to create an album that spends as much time destroying the listener via harsh sounds as it does through emotional weight.

These songs are diverse and well-written. They resonate with feeling and are richly textured and layered. This album has the complete package and offers a holistic, cohesive listening experience.

A stunning début that I’ll be playing for a long time to come. Essential listening.

Yob – Clearing The Path To Ascend (Review)

Yob are from the US and this is their seventh album. They play Doom Metal.

Yob create riff-laden sonic soundscapes that are as massive as they are compelling. Heavy riffs and emotive melodics combine to create an enduring collection of long songs that work wonders whether they are breathtakingly heavy or powerfully soft.

High pitched vocals call out from behind the veil while deeper shouts punctuate proceedings with their harshness. The singer has a great voice with great range and never ceases to impress with his visceral performance.

A perfectly judged Sludgy sound encapsulates everything and the songs breathe darkness and light with every second. The band have truly mastered both, whether it’s a heavier, darker section or a lighter, more restrained part.

The sprawling, monolithic songs that make up Clearing The Path To Ascend are as ambitious as they are epic in scope. This is crushing Doom Metal that takes the listener on a journey and teaches them the power of the riff.

This album contains as much gigantic Doom Metal as Yob fans will have come to expect, but as well as this the churning Sludge elements and Progressive Rock influences are clearly seen and incorporated fully into their sound to create some exceptional tracks.

Each song has its own identity and place in the framework of the album. Each has its own story to tell and tells it in its own inimitable style. Each song is expertly crafted and flawlessly delivered. Each song is great.

Yob have once again shown why they are at the forefront of Doom Metal. This is a highly accomplished album and one that people should be listening to for many a year to come. I know I will.

Colombian Necktie – Twilight Upon Us (Review)

Colombian Necktie are from the US and this is their début album.

The band have a basis in Hardcore but build elements of Sludge and Metal on top of this to create something heavy, raw and nasty. I’ve been watching this band’s development over the last few splits and EPs that they have released and it seems that with this album they’ve taken everything they’ve learned and ramped it up to the maximum.

A suitably crushing sound heralds the start of the album and it immediately draws you in. The recording is arid, focused and everything sounds both tight and loose at the same time.

Colombian Necktie have a relatively varied sound that employs bits from many different Metal subgenres and puts them to work creating this monument to Hardcore Sludge. Sludgecore, if you will. And I’m glad they did as it sounds just great.

This belongs to the same stable of bands such as Charger, Eyehategod, Enabler, Mistress, Serpent Eater, Ilsa, etc. – bands that are doing their own thing by their own rules and make a virtue out of the heavy, filthy and unclean.

For the most part Colombian Necktie’s songs are tightly compressed balls of rage. Hardcore and Sludge sensibilities combine along with the odd Stoner Rock moment to create an album with a vicious swagger and an attitude that just won’t quit. Add to this the odd synth effect, some other interesting ideas and the emotional closing track Kevin’s Song, (which is by far the longest track here), and you have an engaging and diverse album.

The singer is impressively rabid the whole time and sounds like he would be great live, which of course can be extended to the entire band.

Considering their past releases I was hoping this would be a good album but they have more than exceeded my expectations in this. I knew it would be of a certain quality but wasn’t expecting an album of this depth and nuance.

A highly recommended listen for all connoisseurs of heaviness.

Vermin Womb – Permanence (Review)

Vermin Womb are from the US and this is their début EP.

Made up of members with an impressive Extreme Metal pedigree, (Primitive Man, Clinging to the Trees of a Forest Fire), this releases takes that collective knowledge and experience and funnels it into a veritable natural disaster’s worth of extremity and violence given form.

This is a combination of Sludge, Grind, Death Metal and pissed off Hardcore. It’s not for the faint-hearted and sounds like the end of the world is coming. It’s brutal, nasty, and very, very heavy.

The songs here combine the ferocity and general disdain of Hardcore/Grindcore with the murky evil of Sludge and the brutality of Death Metal. There’s even a Blackened edge.

Take Eyehategod, Brutal Truth and Anaal Nathrakh, mash them all up, put the remains in a blender, force feed the resultant slop into a few hapless victims and the resulting screams of pain and agony will sound a bit like Vermin Womb.

The singer is probably one of these unfortunates as it sounds like he’s been gargling liquid nightmares and is now vomiting forth the worst of his experiences.

This is impressively ugly and it takes real determination and talent to create Metal this heavy and grotesque.

Absolutely horrible music that you can’t afford to miss out on.

The Manipulated – Neon Messiah (Review)

Hailing from Denmark, The Manipulated are an Instrumental Sludge Band and this is their second release.

Well, I must admit that the album cover immediately puts me off this release. I mean, who wouldn’t be put off by that? But let’s persevere and see what lies within, as ultimately it’s only the music that matters.

It’s immediately apparent that the music is well worth the listen, as interesting and crushing Doom riffs come falling out of the speakers. The music they create is rich and textured in the gloomy-but-devastating arts.

Whether slow and miserable or upbeat and despondent, The Manipulated create an aural tapestry of doubt, wretchedness and recrimination. It’s effective and noteworthy.

The band combine noise and trumpet into their Sludge assault to add extra layers of filth and intrigue into their dismal sound.

It’s not all crushing Doom and Sludge however, as there are plenty of lighter moments too, although these are just as dark as the heavier ones. This aspect of their sound shows a Post-Metal influence and is reminiscent of bands like Isis, only with more shadows and places to hide.

The Manipulated have produced a very enjoyable and solid piece of work with Neon Messiah. It’s bleak and unforgiving but that only adds to its charm in my book.

This is the soundtrack for the malcontent.

Secret Cutter – Self-Titled (Review)

Secret Cutter are from the US and this is their début album. They play Sludge Metal with an added side of Hardcore/Punk.

The Secret Cutter sound is one of pure unbridled filth, fury and fucking heaviness. This is aggressive and nasty in only the way that Sludge and really pissed off Hardcore can be, and when combined like this it just sounds gloriously horrible!

Think of bands like Eyehategod, Serpent Eater, Ilsa, Corrupt Moral Altar, Wolvhammer, Enabler and the like; distil what makes these bands so interesting, nasty and individual and you’ll have a good idea of the murky swamp of urban decay that Secret Cutter dwell in.

I love albums like this – no messing around, just undiluted heaviness and aggression, whether that’s done at speed or slowly. It’s rough, raw and genuine.

The Sludge is strong and works well with the added Hardcore/Punk influence that the band have.

The songs have a good degree of variety in them for a short album, (only 26 minutes), and within the style they play. Each song is readily identifiable also, (no mean feat for any band), and show a creative force at the top of their game.

They have some great riffs on this release and the songs are surprisingly catchy for this type of band. Although catchy probably isn’t the right term. Infectious, maybe?

Special mention should go to the singer, who absolutely rages and tears his way through the songs as if it’s the last thing he’s ever going to do. His high pitched screams are the very incarnation of savagery.

This really is a top quality release that has so many plus points it’s silly. In many ways this is the best of heavy, nasty music, and this is one I’ll be listening to over and over again.

Play it loud and get it now.

The Grasshopper Lies Heavy – Every Man for Himself and God Against All (Review)

The Grasshopper Lies Heavy are an Instrumental Post-Metal band from the US, and this is their début album.

Originally released in 2010, the album has now been re-released, remixed and remastered.

This is a compelling display of Post-Metal with bits of Doom, Sludge and even Stoner dotted around the landscape like victims of some horrendous accident.

The band have a heavy, brooding sound that allows them to explore this scene of devastation and heartache with inured passion and an eye for detail.

The album explores various themes and moods throughout its near 33 minute playing time.

They take aspects of bands such as Isis, Russian Circles and Pelican and mould them into their own vision of what Post-Metal should sound like. It’s an interesting journey – sometimes harrowing; sometimes relaxing; sometimes ephemeral; sometimes crushing; always enjoyable.

A worthwhile addition to the Post-Metal pantheon.

Lumbar – The First And Last Days Of Unwelcome (Review)

Coming from the US, Lumbar play Sludge and this is their début.

On the first day, I have to say that I love the album cover. There’s something deeply satisfying about it.

On the second day, I have to say that as soon as the first song starts properly, (after a brief sample), it’s like a dark haze has been lifted and all of a sudden everything seems crystal clear.

On the third day, I have to say that the power, the majesty…the sheer awe-inspiring intensity of the strong vocals cresting above the Sludgey Doom riffs…it’s almost too much.

On the fourth day, I have to say that the lyrics and theme of the album are deeply felt and rooted in a personal struggle against illness. The vocals match this depth of feeling perfectly.

On the fifth day, I have to say that the songs are shorter than normal for a a Sludge/Doom band but this doesn’t seem to hold them back at all.

On the sixth day, I have to say that this album has it all; filthy bass; crusty riffing; morbid effects; gloriously dark variety; mega-crushing Doom.

On the seventh day, I have to say that this album is fucking brilliant.

Bastard of the Skies/Grimpen Mire – Split (Review)

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.