Sludge

Vexing, Grand Reproach (Ordovician 2023)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , ,

Denver sludge trio Vexing launch their debut full-length album, Grand Reproach.

Vexing is a sludge and death metal band with progressive tendencies and the regular scent of doom. In 2020 they put out an EP, Cradle, and before that was a demo that presaged the new album with early versions of some of the songs we find on Grand Reproach. I like the rough and ready feeling of the music that clearly is well thought-out and carefully prepared. The band is Clayton Whitelaw (bass, vocals), Garrett Jones (guitar, vocals), and Jeff Malpezzi (drums).

There are eight songs on the new record, starting with “The Mold.” We get half a minute of crackling and noise before the guitars kick in, and the growling huff of vocals. It’s like a back-alley bar fight. “Vanquishing Light” originates in the distance, a faint sound growing louder, bringing with it those menacing guitars. This song is longer than the opener, allowing for a middle section of spacy otherness, and a grand exit. With “The Invisible Hand,” the tempo slows and the mystery grows. The unseen world has just as much aggression as the visible. “Shallow Breath” is a raft adrift on a body of water of unknown size. There is confusion and desperation that leads to lashing out. Ultimately some resolution is found, and, while it might not be a panacea, the waters calm until, near the end, a leak is discovered in the raft.

On the flip we get “Howling,” as in wind, and the sounds of distant space. “Blunderbuss” corrupts the solitude with suggestions of evil deeds, and then the actual deeds themselves. The longest track is next, “Small Black Flame,” edging toward the ten-minute mark. I like this one as a standard-bearing piece because it has all the elements we have been hearing and digging on so far, laid out with both patience and ferocity. It is my favorite track on the album. The set closes on “Red Skies,” a somber reminiscence that will bring different emotions to different people. This is sludgy death metal grown with deeper roots than you usually hear. Recommended.

Grand Reproach is out on Friday, May 26th through Ordovician Records. Bandcamp is the quick get – touch the link below.

Links.

Vexing website, https://vexing.net/

Bandcamp, https://vexing.bandcamp.com/album/grand-reproach

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/vexingco

© Wayne Edwards

Vexing, Grand Reproach (Ordovician 2023)

Mammoth Caravan, Ice Cold Oblivion (2023)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , , ,

The new record from Mammoth Caravan has the weight and pace of an ancient glacier of doom: Ice Cold Oblivion.

Mammoth Caravan is from Little Rock, Arkansas. They are a doom band, and they don’t sound like anything I heard when I was last in Little Rock. Huge riffs and inventive constructions surround variegated vocals and flaring guitar to produce fantastic results. The band is Brandon Ringo (bass, vocals), Evan Swift (guitar vocals), and Robert Warner (drums).

The odd tinkling sounds that open the set on “Ice Cold Oblivion” give no clue that titanic riffs will follow. Neither do they hint at the gravely vocals which align perfectly with the other instruments. Mystical, freezing doom is what this is. “Nomad” is a clomping continuation, a revving up of the premise established in the opener. With a tighter pace and steady drive, much ground is covered, and a tasty lead guitar break is introduced, opening the way for huffing vocals that might have come from an actual mammoth. “Petroglyphs” is a melancholic spellcaster, a cratered celestial body of ancient wisdom. The beautiful wind-down is haunting.

Side two offers first “Megafauna,” a temperamental tune that rattles you and brings on an itch. “Periglacial” is a fascinating piece, with unexpected drumming and vocals, that latter being clean and clear at the front, creating an epic metal expectation and delivering something off to the side of that. It is one of my favorite tracks on the album. The set closes on “Frostbite,” an eleven-minute creeper that is so entrancing you might forget to breathe. I love this song. The entire album has impressed me, clocking doom as it does and ploughing a course all its own. Recommended.

Ice Cold Oblivion is out on Saturday, February 25th. Listen and buy at Bandcamp through the link below.

Band Photo by Kurt Lunsford.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://mammothcaravan.bandcamp.com/album/ice-cold-oblivion

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/MammothCaravan

© Wayne Edwards

Mammoth Caravan, Ice Cold Oblivion (2023)

Behold! The Monolith, From The Fathomless Deep (Ripple Music 2022)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , , , ,

Los Angeles metal band Behold! The Monolith have created a doom-laden masterpiece with their new album From The Fathomless Deep.

Behold! The Monolith have gone through some changes since their inception fifteen years ago. They have released an EP and three previous long-players prior to the latest album. The band has shifted and reshaped since the sudden loss of vocalist and bassist Kevin McDade in a car accident in 2009. Reorienting to a trio on the new album, Menno Verbaten plays bass and sings, Matt Price is on guitar, and Chase Manhattan, drums. This latest music is some of their heaviest to date.

There are six tracks on From The Fathomless Deep. “Crown/The Immeasurable Void” opens the set and establishes a weighty foundation. All instruments, including voice, hit on the first note laying out a heavy front of doom. Slow and monstrous, you can feel the behemoth getting closer as the song moves along. The tension grows throughout and, when you hear a quiet passage, it is positively ominous. “Psychlopean Dread” has a mysterious beginning and melancholy lead work. Verbaten’s gruff vocals churn primordial forces to create meaning from the mist. “Spirit Taker” picks the pace up, and then some. The stabbing guitar riff and rapid-fire percussion catch you off guard and hit all the harder for it. It’s a rager.

Side two leads with “The Wailing Blade,” a song that has a less ominous but more directly threatening tone. It is short and cracking. “The Seams of Pangaea” is a fascinating title when you think of the implications it carries, and the music delivers a full-on expression of the possibilities. The overlayed lead guitar work is exceptional, and the Pink Floydian movement is an experience. The album closes on the eleven-minute epic “Stormbreaker Suite.” This piece has some of the most progressive segments on the record, to my ear, anyway. Over the course of the song, an ambitious array of ideas is explored, and the answers are found.

The is album is very heavy, and it is one of my favorites, not just from Behold! The Monolith, but among the all the albums I have heard so far this year. Highly recommended.

From The Fathomless Deep is out now through Ripple Music. Secure your treasures at the label’s site, or at Bandcamp, like I did.

Links.

Band website, https://beholdthemonolith.com/home

Bandcamp, https://ripplemusic.bandcamp.com/album/from-the-fathomless-deep

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/beholdthemonolith

Ripple Music, https://www.ripple-music.com/

© Wayne Edwards

Behold! The Monolith, From The Fathomless Deep (Ripple Music 2022)

Negative 13, Mourning Asteri (2022)

Wayne Edwards, , , , ,

The sophomore album from Negative 13 is an ambitious affair, Mourning Asteri.

Negative 13 is a band from Pittsburgh, and it is the new incarnation of the band Negative Theory which proliferated in the early aughts. The music is sludge-centered with adventures in many other directions. The musicians are Scott Fisher (vocals), Edward Banchs (guitar), Chip Reynolds (drums, vocals), and Mary Bielich (bass).

I listened to the record straight through and wrote down a one-line knee jerk reaction to each song. These are not really based on the lyrics and mostly have to do with whatever popped into my head as I heard the songs for the first time. It is what the music made me think of and therefore what I plastered onto it. I wouldn’t take this too seriously.

Here we go. “My Scars Are Showing Again” – like a hoarse, wandering goblin minstrel drinking in a rural English pub talking about its day by candlelight. “Never Ending Exit Wound” – a very punk piece that turns into doom toward the end. “Pain Prism” – belligerent angst stemming from the lost search for peace and isolation.

“Mourning Asteri” – a sinister instrumental mood track. “Crack the Code” – continues from previous song and builds into a journey where many things go terribly wrong. “The Key and the Coat” – a hot punk take up front meandering off into the psychedelic wilderness as the song goes on. “Parahell” – wandering somewhat lost in mental confinement, searching for an exit. “Villain” – somber long-form doom, beautifully dark.

More thoughtfully, let me say I really like this music. In its totality, is unlike what I usually hear. The idea of combining sludge and doom with punk is a winner for sure. Adding psychedelic and even ambient-like passages deepens the effect. Give it a listen. Recommended.

Mourning Asteri is out on Friday, July 8th. Check it out at Bandcamp or any other elsewhere you like.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://negative13.bandcamp.com/album/mourning-asteri

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/people/Negative-Thirteen/100063690412382/

© Wayne Edwards

Negative 13, Mourning Asteri (2022)

Witchfinder, Endless Garden (Mrs Red Sound 2022)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , , , , ,

Hazy stoner doom band Witchfinder cast out their new EP into the world, Endless Garden.

Just a few years ago in France, Witchfinder began creating music with hallmarks of doom, sludge, and heavy psych. Leaning toward the stoner end of the room, they released two full-length albums, a self-titled one in 2017 followed by Hazy Rites in 2019. There is a new long-player on the horizon, and meanwhile they offer Endless Garden. Witchfinder is Clément Mostefai (vocals and bass), Stanislas Franczak (guitar), Thomas Dupuy (drums), and Kevyn Raecke (keys).

There are two long tracks on the new EP beginning with “Eternal Sunset.” Any song that runs nearly eleven minutes will have some change-ups, or an arc, or both. Here we have a quiet opening, reflective music establishing space to expand into. Guitars and keys arrive in due course. There are moments that seem like self-contain songs themselves, and other, longer stretches that feel like a movie soundtrack. The vocals are spacey, almost cavernous at times, adding depth and mystery. The hallmarks of riff-driven stoner rock never stray too far from focus.

“The Maze” starts with a wandering bass, paired with a guitar that looks in a different direction. The mood here is darker than on the first song, instilling trepidation in the listener. The vocals offer what seems like a warning, or at least a sinister tale to put you on your guard. Decisive plodding appears, and is like a marching force on a mission; they will not be swayed. There is a sudden, violent shift at the end, an abrupt black metal moment that signals the conclusion of the conflict.

The band has planned a full-length album for later in the year. These two songs will hold us over until then. It is also a rewarding enterprise to listen to Witchfinder’s earlier albums in the interim. Recommended.

Mrs Red Sound will release Endless Garden on Friday, June 3rd. Bandcamp is a good stop when you are looking for this music.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://witchfinder.bandcamp.com/

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/witchfinderdoom

Mrs Red Sound Records, http://mrsredsound.com/

© Wayne Edwards

Witchfinder, Endless Garden (Mrs Red Sound 2022)

Weedevil, The Return (Abraxas Records 2022)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Weedevil presents dark stories told in doom on their first full-length album, The Return.

From São Paulo, Brazil, Weedevil is Flávio Cavichioli (drums), Lorraine Scar (vocals), Dani Plothow (bass), Paulo Ueno (guitar), and Bodão (guitar). The records show that the band has been releasing material for only a couple of years, with two EPs and a live album already out. The Return is their first long-player, and it is solid through and through.

The new album includes five huge slabs of doom. First up is “Underwater.” It is a steady heavy beat that seems at first slightly softened by Scar’s vocals until you realize what she is singing about. The music matches the desperation of the narrative and complements the turn towards dark power that occurs. “The Void” follows and grinds on you like pyramid stones being dragged up a ramp, forcing down the weight of history and reality on your being.

“The Return” has a deep-seated witching feel to it. To wit, “Offer me green grass and accursed men’s head / I will keep the beast away, if I’m well fed.” The circumlocution reinforces the powerful chant and the spell sinks ever deeper in. On “Isn’t A Love Song” the approach is more melodic but the messaging does not stray far from grim tidings, even with the beautiful piano in the finish.

The final track is “Genocidal.” It has an impressive tall-wall presence in the guitars and a creepy, disturbing whistling at the front. As with every track, Scar’s vocals are a center point, and a place of return. This song is the most determined, grimmest conclusion in a set that has been full-force doom all along. It is a welcome end that has you turning back to start at the beginning and experience it all over again. Recommended.

The Return emerges on Friday, April 8th in digital through Abraxas Records, with vinyl to follow from DHU Records.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://weedevil.bandcamp.com/album/the-return

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/weedevildoom

DHU Records, https://darkhedonisticunionrecords.bigcartel.com/

© Wayne Edwards.

Weedevil, The Return (Abraxas Records 2022)

Crowbar, Zero and Below (MNRK Heavy 2022)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , , , ,

The twelfth studio album from Crowbar is yet another monumental earth-shaker: Zero and Below.

One of the biggest sounds to emerge from the New Orleans heavy music scene, Crowbar are pioneers of sludge metal. Kirk Windstein (vocals, guitar), Matt Brunson (guitar), Shane Wesley (bass), and Tommy Buckley (drums) deliver not merely a new album, but a vitally important one. There is no half in their game – it is a full-on assault from beginning to end.

Sludge metal is a lethal amalgam for doom and aggression. Windstein’s vocals blast power and energy that combine with the titanic riffs and percussion to forge an instantly recognizable and unforgettable sound. While Crowbar has been a clear influence on many successful bands, they have never rested on their success and, for more than thirty years, they have held the throttle wide open.

There are ten killer songs on Zero And Below. The opening track hits you at speed, “The Fear That Binds You,” and turns you right around. The guitar riff is like an advancing legion. “Her Evil Is Sacred” animates the wicked into a reckoning. “Confess To Nothing” leans into the doom realm heavily to great effect, then the pace pounds on with “Chemical Godz.” The music keeps you moving this way and that.

There is all manner of pace and shift in this set. “Denial of the Truth” imbibes a kind of “Planet Caravan” vibe, but it is much heavier than that classic. “Crush Negativity” pushes steamroller weight while “Reanimating A Lie” is more nimble in the clip and every bit as heavy in the narrative. “Bleeding From Every Hole” is a show-stopper, and I would put the title track high up on the list, too, with its surrounding, melancholy ever-presence. This record wreaks havoc from every angle. Highly recommended.

Zero and Below is out now through MNRK Heavy – vinyl, cassette, longbox, digital … whatever you want. Grab them while you can. And see Crowbar on the road – they are out now with Sepultura and Sacred Reich on tour, and they will be doing dates with Gwar, Nekrogoblikon, and The Native Howl later in the spring and summer.

Band photo by Justin Reich.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://crowbar.bandcamp.com/

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/crowbarmusic

MNRK Heavy Records, https://mnrkheavy.com/

Crowbar, Zero and Below (MNRK Heavy 2022)

Barús, Fanges (Aesthetic Death 2021)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , ,

French atmospheric death metal band Barús makes a musical offering to see the year out.

Formed in 2015, Barús traverses the unsteady borders of death metal and everything else. The first music the band released was their self-titled EP in 2015 followed by the Drowned long-player in 2018. There is not an enormous amount of information about the musicians themselves readily available in the atmosphere, but the Metal Archives declares the band was formed after Project Jim split up, and the press release declares that on the new album “the band adopted a fluid and open collaborative process involving both musician Anthony Barruel and writer Sarah Onave.” Ah well, as I often say, it is the music that matters the most and, to find out about it, all we have to do is listen.

There are two tracks on the new EP, “Fanges,” which runs nineteen minutes, and “Châssis de Chair,” clocking in at a mere fifteen. The title track was put together mostly from a distance because of the global pandemic. As you might expect, any musical piece that runs so long will have several movements that collect into the whole. The opening is quiet and tentative, and, while death metal lives a rich life herein, there are long passages that are sludgy, and even ambient. There is a lot to experience.

The band describes “Châssis de Chair” as a composition that “works as a mirror-track to ‘Fanges’ by re-expressing the same core elements, albeit through an entirely opposite approach” that was “recorded live inside the band’s rehearsal space, focusing on a raw visceral performance with no overdubs or additional layers.” This description is apt – the song begins loud and fierce, revealing its deeper layers only as the music progresses. The “live” nature of the recording shines through as well in its temper and feel.

The order of the tracks could have been a coin toss, but hearing them this way is definitely best – the studio track first and the unperturbed flow second. If you are a listener who appreciates the long form and who is looking for a lavish journey, you will find it here. Recommended.

Fanges is out on the last day of 2021 through Aesthetic Death for the CD and Breathe Plastic for the tape. You can pick it up at Bandcamp in either format, and digital as well.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://barus.bandcamp.com/

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/barusband

Aesthetic Death, https://www.aestheticdeath.com/

Breath Plastic, https://breatheplastic.bandcamp.com/

Barús, Fanges (Aesthetic Death 2021)

Beldam, Live At The Golden Pony (HPGD 2021)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , , , , ,

The live album from sludge masters Beldam is an historical artifact of doom and despair.

This is one from the archives, recorded live at The Golden Pony in Harrisonburg, Virginia on January 8, 2017. Beldam is a band that started out in Charlottesville, Virginia and has moved around since then. In a mere three years they released two impressive albums, Still the Wretched Linger (2016) and Pasung (2018). The new one was captured in between these releases and completes a menacing triptych.

There are five looming tracks on the album. The first three are from Still the Wretched Linger, “The Foundling,” “From Grave To Cradle,” and “Needles.” From the opening bars that rise over the cheering crowd you get an intimate feeling of being in the room surrounded by the dark energy. The weight of the guitar and impenetrable bass is immense. The warbling, wandering lead guitar and searing vocals press the air from your lungs in the opener, and the music only gets heavier from there. The pace ranges from dead slow and absolutely crushing to pounding and assertive — the latter is particularly notable on “Needles.”

The two final pieces originally appeared on Pasung, so they are being performed here to promote that album. “Vial of Silence” sounds like it was recorded in a torture chamber that never closes.

“That Which Consumes You” identifies the burdens of life that wear on us and tells the story in an eerie, dank kaleidoscope of torment. It is an experience.

I would like to hear more music from this band but if the internet is to be believed, the future is uncertain. We do have the two studio albums and now this live musical artifact. Recommended.

Live At The Golden Pony is out now from Horror Pain Gore Death productions on CD and digital.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://hpgd.bandcamp.com/album/live-at-the-golden-pony

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/BeldamOfficial/

Horror Pain Gore Death Productions, https://www.horrorpaingoredeath.com/

Beldam, Live At The Golden Pony (HPGD 2021)

Doomsday Profit, In Idle Orbit (2021)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , , , ,

The debut album from Raleigh, North Carolina’s Doomsday Profit is a thoroughly ominous, earthy mood slinger.

The band – Bryan Reed (guitar and vocals), Kevin See (guitar), Ryan Sweeney (bass), and Tradd Yancey (drums) – came together very recently. They released a demo last year, and this new album is their hot-on-the-heels debut. The musicians have all been around the music scene for some time in different capacities. The variegated experiences and paths they have taken individually join together here synergistically, resulting in captivating music.

The first song on the album could be a single – “Crown of Flies.” Cleary doom music, it also has attributes that sway broader appeal with melodic and even catchy elements. So too with “Scryers of the Smoke,” a song that adds early lead guitar warbles to draw in listeners and a chorus line to get the audience singing along: Abandon hope, abandon hope, speak the Scryers of the Smoke. Good hooks, both. And in the middle there is an extended reflective cooling period with great rhythm and more excellent lead guitar.

“Cestoda” is massively heavy up front, the epitome of low and slow. “Consume the Remains” turns the other way with a catchy riff and a mid-tempo rambler attitude. “Destroy the Myths” places a drum cadence at the jump and continues to have an orderly feel to it throughout. “Bring Out Your Dead” is the epic of the set, pacing in at over ten minutes and casting a funeral doom pall in its opening salvos. Conjuring the coldness of the grave with an expanse as big as space, this song delivers on the expectations brought by the title.

I like everything about this album. The extension on the basic foundations of doom and the integration of clever ideas from other forms works a winning advantage. Recommended.

In Idle Orbit is out on Friday, November 12th, at the links below.

Links.

Website, http://www.doomsdayprofit.com/

Bandcamp, https://doomsdayprofit.bandcamp.com/

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/doomsdayprofit

Doomsday Profit, In Idle Orbit (2021)