Posts Tagged ‘Grunge’

Belonging – Hollow Cells

Posted: 17 July 2025 in Albums, Reviews
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Dipterid Records – 18th July 2025

Christopher Nosnibor

That artists can have complete control over their creative output, artwork, and every other aspect of their releases, including the schedule, is often hailed as one of the great virtues of the age of the Internet, especially Bandcamp and Spotify. It’s also oft-said that quality will reach its audience regardless. But thanks to algorithms and the fact that most creatives aren’t best at (self)-promotion and have no budget to pay anyone else to do the job, it simply doesn’t happen that way. And so it is that Hollow Cells, the debut album from Portland-based sludge / stoner metal band, Belonging, self-released in May, is now receiving a vinyl release courtesy of Dipterid Records, which comes with proper distribution and PR – which is why we’re here now.

Social media is aclog with music fans dismissing the role of critics and music reviews, scoffing about how they’re worthless and their opinions not worth shit. But the fact is that unless you have a mate with their ear to the ground, or the algorithm delivers particularly favourable results – unlikely for a minor band who’ve taken the self-release route – the industry mechanisms of labels, PR, press, and radio can make all the difference. Back in the 90s, pre-Internet, I relied on print media and late-night radio to discover new music that wasn’t top-40 chart stuff, and would be as likely to seek out an album based on a negative review as a positive one. Because criticism goes both ways, and critical reading, while perhaps a dying skill, was essential in order to read between the lines. In short, a negative review isn’t – or at least wasn’t – necessarily a bad thing.

I’ve digressed. And I’m not giving Hollow Cells a negative review – because it’s a belting album.

There’s space and separation between the instruments, and the drums – which bring us into the first track, ‘Lady Vanishes’ – have that ‘live’ feel – as, indeed, do the rest of the instruments. This is a recording that captures speaker-quivering volume. The overdriven guitar is thick, driving, the bass hangs low and heavy. The songs are structured, but primarily constructed around the riff, and the riffs are epic. But there’s detail, too, which emerges from the monolithic sludgefest. The stop / start shouty aggro racket of ‘Ceiling’ starts out a bit Therapy? but then swerves to a place that’s more Fugazi, and it’s precisely this range that shows that Belonging have something more to offer than template stoner / sludge: the energy of Hollow Cells is exhilarating from beginning to end.

The six-minute ‘Birdwatcher’ ventures into more post-punk territory, with Bryce August adopting a growlier, baritone vocal style that, when paired with steely grey guitars, invites comparisons to Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, before the song veers in a very different direction that’s more anthemic indie than anything, but with guitars which are absolutely huge.

As it progresses, Hollow Cells becomes increasingly difficult to place, and all the better for it. It’s heavy, but melodic, grungy but not so much angsty. It’s more obscure 90s acts like The God Machine and 8-Storey Window which come to mind during the second half of the album, and with each song, I come to realise how short any genre-based pitch is doomed to fall. ‘Longhaul’ is classic 90s grunge, but works on account of being more Nirvana than Bush, while chucking in a dash of Shellac. The bassline is killer

Hollow Cells is bursting with emotional depth, an ache. But then there are blasting punk songs like ‘Bonehead’ which are more in the vein of …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead. And this is why Hollow Cells is so good: it never fails to confound expectation, and never fails to exceed expectation, either. It’s quality from beginning to end – a rare thing indeed. I don’t do stars, but if I did, this would be a 9.5.

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Shallow Honey – What You Made Me Do

Posted: 30 June 2025 in Reviews, Singles and EPs
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5th June 2025

Christopher Nosnibor

It may seem hard to believe, but there is music beyond Glastonbury at this time of year, and it may seem even harder to credit, but more than ten acts played the festival. And because right now, it seems there’s nothing but wall-to-wall debate over Bob Vylan’s performance, I feel more than ever that my job here is to focus my energy elsewhere. The only thing I will say on the matter is that it’s staggering just how vehement the criticism has been of the band in the media and by the government, when criticism of the perpetrators of genocide has been largely non-existent. The statement on the stage backdrop makes the point perfectly: “Free Palestine. The United Nations have called it a genocide. The BBC calls it a ‘conflict’.” And yet, I’ve observed countless couch warriors calling Bob Vylan ‘opportunists’ and ‘attention seekers’.

And this is where we land with ‘What You Made Me Do’, the new single by female-fronted grungy alt-rock four-piece Shallow Honey. Not because it’s a political song – it isn’t – but because it’s a song that comes from that breaking point where something just gives. Because normal dialogue simply has no effect. When the only way to get someone to listen is by going to an extreme.

I am screaming for attention

finding all the words

the words that can offend you.

Rai, Shallow Honey’s vocalist, describes the meaning behind the track: “WHAT YOU MADE ME DO is a track about when you have been calmly expressing your feelings and frustrations to someone over a long period of time, yet have not been heard. After a while of repeating yourself and trying to meet them where they’re at with nothing back – you will snap! Like holding a beach ball under water – you can only push it down for so long. It feels good to let go – but it’s also really scary and sobering”.

It’s indubitably relatable for most of us – and for those who it’s not relatable, it’s likely because you’re the one who’s given to endless stonewalling, the shit who will act surprised, dumbfounded, offended, and then suggest that this is an overreaction from someone who’s being sensitive or whatever.

‘What You Made Me Do’ is appropriately fiery, with driving guitars to the fore in what is a solid rock tune that would could have come from that early ‘90s golden age of grunge. But Rai’s vocals, while, strong, bring melody, with a tone reminiscent of Gwen Stefani, giving the song an instant accessibility – without diluting the power of the sentiment.

B-sides ‘Aim Low’ and ‘Start the Ride’ are both of a similar quality, with guts and a raw energy that’s completely compelling.

In short: this is good stuff. Dig it. More soon, please.

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Sledges – Losing Pace (EP)

Posted: 10 June 2025 in Reviews, Singles and EPs
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9th June 2025

Christopher Nosnibor

Sledges are described as ‘a four piece Alt-metal/Heavy-shoegaze band that blends genres like grunge, metal, shoegaze, emo/post-hardcore, and alternative to craft songs with catchy hooks and big riffs,’ and while this is true, it fails to convey the way the various elements melt into one another to conjure something quite special.

Take the first track, ‘Stumbling as I Fall’: the guitars bend and pixelate in a way that evokes the essence of My Bloody Valentine, but it’s grunged up and beefy, and at the same time the melodic vocals contrast with that thick overdrive, capturing the spirit and sound of ’94, and in particular, Smashing Pumpkins circa Siamese Dream. The title track is harder, heavier, with loping drums melded to a tight, chugging bass underpinning some hefty overdriven guitars that provide the backdrop for vocals that ae by turns breezy and gnarly, offering one of the most overtly metal moments on the EP. I find myself momentarily thinking of Troublegum by Therapy? – a classic example of solid tunes brimming with melody played with hard distortion and some raw aggression – but then Soundgarden also poke their way into my cognisance. If it sounds like I’m simply pulling bands out of the air, it’s very much not the case: Losing Pace simply has that much going on, although the fact that many of the touchstones I’ve referenced thus far are of a 90s vintage does also serve position the various elements which contribute to the Sledges sound.

‘Weightless’ is – ironically – pretty heavy, and it’s not (believe it or not) a criticism to stand it alongside Linkin Park, in that it brings nu-metal heft and a strong emotive hue to a song that’s both riffy and rich with a palpably sincere feeling of angst. It matters because this is no cheap stab at commercialism, and nor it is just another song that tries to alternative by hauling all of the tropes into the mix: there’s a sincerity to this which lends it an indefinable power, and it hits hard.

After a soft acoustic intro, ‘June is Better than July’ goes widescreen, a cinematic burst of post-rock, post-grunge, alt-rock riffcentric extravaganza. There’s a nagging sense that it’s a but emo, a bit ‘things we’re not supposed to like’… but bollocks to those strictures of convention. It’s pure quality, and that’s ultimately what it all boils down to.

Losing Pace was originally released as a four-track twelve-inch, but this new edition, which also marks its first digital release, offers a brace of bonus tracks, in the form of ‘Fading’ and ‘Letters’. The former is the weakest and most overtly emo song of the set, but it’s bathed in reverb and the guitars are bold and overdriven and grungy, and it’s impossible to deny that it’s well-executed. Rounding it off, bonus cut ‘Letters’ is both dreamy and dynamic, melding elements of early Ride and MBV and Chapterhouse with later exponents of shoegaze / nu-gaze like The Early Years as swirling guitars conjure cathedrals of sound around a pumping drum machine.

On Losing Pace, Sledges successfully combine classic and contemporary, and do so with an aptitude and energy, and a keen sense of dynamics. It’s quality all the way.

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Lower Slaughter – Deep Living

Posted: 8 June 2025 in Albums, Reviews
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Human Worth – 6th June 2025

Christopher Nosnibor

Where does the time go? No, really? I’m not just stunned by the fact we’re a week into June already, but the fact that it’s been six years since the last Lower Slaughter album, and nine years since I missed their show in Leeds with Working Man Noise Unit supporting because I was watching Man of Moon play to a nearly empty room across town instead. That’s almost a decade I’ve spent being frustrated by my inability to clone myself, and I find it hard to let these things go.

They’ve undergone some changes since their last outing – changes of the nature which would have terminated, many a band. Their bio traces a raid succession of personnel switches:

Following the departure of long-time vocalist Sinead Young, their surprise return in 2024 saw the remaining former members unveil a new line-up, welcoming James Gardiner to the fold on bass, and with previous bass player Barney Wakefield switching over to vocal duties. Upon Gardiner’s addition, a considerably more expansive sound has emerged, bringing the band’s now recognised output of what the Quietus once referred to as ‘lurching noise-rock’ to new exciting heights, all the while set against an equally more confident and expansive dynamic, reinforced by the chemistry of Graham Hebson and Jon Wood, who remain tighter than ever on drums and guitar respectively.

And so seemingly miraculously, they’re still here. Thus, we arrive at Deep Living, a colossal twelve-track document of the new Lower Slaughter, a release of blistering overload dominated by rolling percussion and thick bass. It’s varied, to say the least, and most certainly does not pursue the most obvious or commercial avenues. It was certainly worth the wait, and we’re most grateful that they are still here. And because it’s being released by Human Worth, 10% of all sales proceeds donated to charity The PANDAs Foundation – a trusted support service for families suffering with perinatal mental illness.

After a good couple of minutes of rolling, tom-driven percussion and muted vocals which sit partially submerged beneath a fat, fuzzed out bass ‘Year of the Ox’ suddenly slams the pedals on and erupts and Wakefield roars in anguish, ‘My eyes! My eyes!’. ‘Take a Seat’ is quite different, more overtly mathy, post-punky, and more accessible overall, despite its hell-for-leather pace and wild energy, and there’s a bit on jangle to altogether mellower ‘The Lights Were Not Familiar’ that’s a shade Pavementy – but it’s Pavement as covered by Fugazi. And the guitars sound loud. In fact, everything on Deep Living sounds loud, and what’s more, the recording and mixing work done by Wayne Adams (Petbrick/Big Lad) captures and conveys that it such a way that it feels loud, like you’re in the room with the backline practically in your face. This is nowhere more apparent than on ‘Dear Phantom’, which has something of a Bug-era Dinosaur Jr vibe to it – and the big grungy riff is magnificent. Then halfway through it goes slow, low, and sludgy – and that’s magnificent too.

Balancing melodic hooks and some quite breezy indie / alt-rock with some hefty, heavier and hugely overdriven passages, Deep Living has some range.

The six-and-a-half-minute ‘Memories of the Road’ is a slow-burning epic that builds to a roaring finish, and makes for a standout cut. It’s a trick they repeat on the title track which brings the album to a close.

In between, ‘Hospital Chips’ brings pace and jittery tension via thumping bass and jarring, sinewy guitars, and straight-up punk brawlers ‘The Bridge’ and ‘Motions’. All the range, but it’s the fact there are tunes galore that make Deep Living a cracking album.

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Various – Marc Urselli’s Ramones Redux + Best of Redux

Posted: 5 June 2025 in Albums, Reviews
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Magnetic Eye Records / Redux Records – 6th June 2025

Christopher Nosnibor

Magnetic Eye have released a few of these ‘Redux’ tribute albums now, each of which has come in two editions, and each of which has taken a different approach. Whereas the Meantime Helmet releases offered a standard and expanded version, for example, others have presented an album on one version and a ‘best of’ as a companion. And in all instances, they’ve managed to score some outstanding names as contributors. This time around, it’s the Ramones’ eponymous debut which is accompanied by a ‘best of’ set as a counterpart, and the project was ‘masterminded and curated by New York City and London-based Italian-Swiss audio engineer, sound designer, composer, multi-instrumentalist, and Grammy winner Marc Urselli’ – hence the titles.

Mondo Generator, Napalm Death, Ufomammut, Arthur Brown, David J, and Voivod are among the big-hitters featured here, but as I settle down with a cold pint of Oranjeboom, I contemplate the need for a Ramones tribute – or, more specifically, another one. There have been a few, perhaps most famously 2003’s We’re a Happy Family, which featured The Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Marilyn Manson, Green Day, Garbage, U2, Metallica, and The Pretenders, among others, and there are so many tribute acts out there, too, one has to ask ‘is this not overkill?’ Well, no, because that would be Motörhead, and what’s more, with a lower tier of ‘name’ contributors, it feels more authentic, somehow. I’m not saying U2 aren’t fans of The Ramones, but they feel like they’re on a par with the fans who bought a T-shirt in Primark and only discovered they were a band after the fact. Casuals, in other words.

Some might say that the debut album doubles as a ‘best of’, and there’s a case for that, given that every single song is a pure classic. Mondo Generator kick off the debut album covers set with a roaring ‘ONETWOTHREEFOUR’ before launching into ‘Blitzkreig Bop’, and it’s a faithful but fiery, fizzy rendition, the guitars like jet engines on what you could only describe as a proper punk blast.

Daníel Hjálmtýsson and Mortiis offer an altogether different take on ‘Beat on the Brat’ – slowed down, moody, gothic, a bit theatrical, a shade menacing, and yet somehow accentuating the pop currents which flow through this, and indeed, all Ramones songs. Boots Electric, with the help of none other than Wayne Kramer, push the pop to the forefront

Ufomammut bring the metal and convert the sub-two-minute surf-pop ‘Chain Saw’ into a six and-a-half minute grind that’s downtuned, dense, and dirty. It’s also absolutely brilliant in its execution. Napalm Death have enlisted Thurston Moore for their take on ‘Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue’, which is a minute and a half of speaker-shredding thrash nihilism, and absolutely perfect.

The Ramones weren’t only punk progenitors, but purveyors of precise and often perfect pop songs, and this pair of albums represents the fullness of their influence (still not saying they. didn’t influence RHCP or U2., but…) Arthur Brown and The Berserker’s take on ‘I Don’t Wanna Walk Around With You’ is crazy, and absolutely perfect.

Voivod rope in JG Thirlwell for their hell-for-leather yet hooky as hell take on ‘Zero Zero UFO’ which opens the ‘best of’ set. And there are some corkers, with a slowed-down, heavy psyche yet oh-so-pop take on ‘Pet Sematary’ by Impostor Cult with Amy Tung Barry Smith being exemplary. So Hideous’ twangin’ take on ‘The KKK Took My Baby Away’ is one of the most radically different interpretations on the album, although Kayo Dot and Ihsahn push ‘Teenage Lobotomy’ in the most unexpected directions, while David J and Paul Wallfisch push ‘I Wanna Be Sedated’ to a soporific seven minutes. With a super-sparse arrangement, it sounds as if they’ve achieved their wish before entering the studio.

What these two albums illustrate, more than anything, is that The Ramones wrote superlative and truly classic songs, with earworms galore. And as tributes go, these albums do feel perfectly fitting.

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Listen: ‘Letters’ by Sledges

Posted: 31 May 2025 in Recommended Streams and Videos, Singles and EPs
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From San Diego California Sledges is a four piece Alt-metal/Heavy-shoegaze band that blends genres like grunge, metal, shoegaze, emo/post-hardcore, and alternative to craft songs with catchy hooks and big riffs. The band’s goal is to create emotional/ heavy songs that you can sing along to.

Sledges is Philly Gomez (vocals and guitar), Alex Angulo (bass), Julian Romero (guitar), Mason Haidar (drums).

Sledges’ origin starts in mid 2020 taking place in the area of Chula Vista California. From the boredom and freetime during the pandemic Sledges started as a three piece and wasted no time writing original material. During 2020 Sledges recorded and released their first single ‘Melting Lives’ which helped them start playing shows in San Diego and grow a local fan base. The group recorded and released more singles throughout 2021-2023 and added a fourth member to play lead guitar. Some notable singles during that time include ‘Headwinds’ (2022) and ‘Disgusting’ (2023).

In mid 2023 Sledges began to record their EP Losing Pace with Mike Kamoo who engineered, mixed and mastered it at Earthling Studios. Losing Pace is a four track EP that is catchy and ambitious yet heavy. The group took inspiration from bands like The Smashing Pumpkins, Nothing, Sunny Day Real Estate, and Hum with its heavy but lush wall of guitars while adding their own flavor. Sledges experimented with acoustic guitars, melodic choruses, drum samples and My Bloody Valentine-esque leads. The group wanted to simply write strong songs that can stand on their own.

Singer/songwriter Philly Gomez says Losing Pace is about a period when he felt broken from the struggles of balancing life and in the process realizing you are falling apart. With heartfelt lyrics and contagious riffs, Losing Pace was released on May 2nd 2024. With great reception the EP led the band to get signed by the label Quiet Panic and open for larger bands like From Autumn to Ashes, and Ringo Deathstarr.

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Watch: ‘Fading’ by Sledges

Posted: 22 May 2025 in Recommended Streams and Videos, Singles and EPs
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From San Diego, California, Sledges is a four piece Alt-metal/Heavy-shoegaze band that blends genres like grunge, metal, shoegaze, emo/post-hardcore, and alternative to craft songs with catchy hooks and big riffs. The band’s goal is to create emotional/ heavy songs that you can sing along to.

Sledges is Philly Gomez (vocals and guitar), Alex Angulo (bass), Julian Romero (guitar), Mason Haidar (drums).

Sledges’ origin starts in mid 2020 taking place in the area of Chula Vista California. From the boredom and free time during the pandemic Sledges started as a three piece and wasted no time writing original material. During 2020 Sledges recorded and released their first single ‘Melting Lives’ which helped them start playing shows in San Diego and grow a local fan base. The group recorded and released more singles throughout 2021-2023 and added a fourth member to play lead guitar. Some notable singles during that time include ‘Headwinds’ (2022) and ‘Disgusting’ (2023).

In mid 2023 Sledges began to record their EP Losing Pace with Mike Kamoo who engineered, mixed and mastered it at Earthling Studios. Losing Pace is a four track EP that is catchy and ambitious yet heavy. The group took inspiration from bands like The Smashing Pumpkins, Nothing, Sunny Day Real Estate, and Hum with its heavy but lush wall of guitars while adding their own flavor. Sledges experimented with acoustic guitars, melodic choruses, drum samples and My Bloody Valentine-esque leads. The group wanted to simply write strong songs that can stand on their own.

Singer/songwriter Philly Gomez says Losing Pace is about a period when he felt broken from the struggles of balancing life and in the process realizing you are falling apart. With heartfelt lyrics and contagious riffs, Losing Pace was released on May 2nd 2024. With great reception the EP led the band to get signed by the label Quiet Panic and open for larger bands like From Autumn to Ashes, and Ringo Deathstarr.

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Evidence of a Struggle – Eddy Derecho

Posted: 16 May 2025 in Albums, Reviews
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The Glue Factory / The Orchard – 2nd May 2025

Christopher Nosnibor

For his second album under the Evidence of a Struggle moniker, W P C Simmons V a.k.a. Rev. Billy Simmons has managed to recruit a band lineup with some serious pedigree, with Matt Walker (Smashing Pumpkins, Morrissey, of1000faces, Garbage, Filter) on drums and synths, with bass contributions by Alan Berliant (Chris Connelly, Mavis Staples, Saint Asonia) and Solomon Walker (Liz Phair, Bryan Adams, Morrissey). We’ll forgive Walker and Solmon for Mozz – musicians need to work and get paid, after all.

We aired the title track here on Aural Aggravation a little while ago, and it launches the album with all engines blazing, a full-throttle industrial / grunge beast of a cut in the vein of Filter. And from hereon in, things get darker, heavier, and weirder. ‘The Whale’ adds a psychedelic spin to some dense, sludgy riffage, coming on with some hints of Melvins, Smashing Pumpkins, and Queens of the Stone Age in the blend.

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‘Alma’ takes a skipping detour into rippling, expansive electronics, even alluding to prog as it locks into a looping, metronomic groove and serves up an extended guitar solo towards the end of its sprawling six minutes. But there’s a tough, serrated edge which remains consistent throughout. It’s hard to really pinpoint, but there’s a drawl, a sneer, about the vocal, and something about the treatment – be it compression, reverb – that calls to mind Girls Against Boys. Musically, there’s no similarity: in fact, Eddy Derecho is an album that’s difficult to pin down stylistically. There’s a keen 90s vibe to it, in some rather abstract way. It’s a guitar album, but that in itself isn’t it, not by a long shot. I’m almost reluctant to describe it as ‘heavy’, too: the guitars may be big and overdriven and the drums thunderous, but, well, it’s all relative, is my point. What made grunge exciting in the early 90s was that we got to hear music with aggression, angst, and edge, in a mainstream setting: anyone who was in their mid- to late teens or early twenties in in the early 90s had been raised on crisp, clinically-produced music in the charts, and sure, that production was phenomenal in so many ways – listen to Duran Duran’s Rio and it’s truly remarkable just how clean and yet, at the same time, dynamic it sounds. We also grew up with the studio slickness of Phil Collins and the like, and even ‘rock’ was highly polished. It’s no wonder that grunge was an absolute phenomenon. But was it that heavy? Not really, not in comparison to the likes of, say, Earth, or Swans, or, for that matter, early Melvins. Nine Inch Nails smashed everything with Broken and The Downward Spiral, though. Those releases were truly revolutionary. The reason I’ve taken this diversion is because Eddy Derecho is an album which has all the hallmarks of emerging from this musical milieu. The guitars are bold, but it’s not so heavy that you’d shit your pants. It’s edgy and has aggression, but it’s also fairly accessible, in that it has tunes, with tangible structures. There’s melody.

The sinewy ‘Orchan’ is perhaps one of the hardest-hitting tracks on the album: all of the elements just seem to come together to render a sum greater than the parts, and not only is the drumming mighty, but the mix is such that the snare really cuts through in a way that’s rare on contemporary releases.

Despite my enthusiastic focus on aspects of the production, this is by no means an attempt to milk the engorged udders of nostalgia – although if any ‘new’ bands should get a pass for sounding ‘retro’ it’s these guys, since they were there at the time. Eddy Derecho is an album with tunes – and the slow-burning, seven-and-a-half-minute epic ‘Aethyrs’ is a standout among them, a hefty grunger which spins in some Six-era Mansun vibes.

Eddy Derecho may well sound like a lot which has come before – but that’s true of so much music now, inevitably. But what sets it apart is the quality, and the consistency of that quality, and by sprinkling a dash of cosmic pop dust on the top, Evidence of a Struggle have hit a winning formula here.

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Eville – Get With Me

Posted: 12 May 2025 in Reviews, Singles and EPs
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9th May 2025

Christopher Nosnibor

Sometimes, when a band has forged its sound with the assistance of quality producers, there’s a niggle of concern when they decide to go it alone. Why are they doing this? Why now? Have they become overconfident in their abilities?

Eva Sheldrake explains the decision: “We’ve worked with incredible producers, and we’ve taken so much from every experience, but with Get With Me, it all came together so naturally that we knew Jude had to produce it. We caught lightning in a bottle—the energy is real, it’s raw, and it’s straight from the heart. The song channels something a lot of women go through but don’t always get the space to talk about. Instead of letting it fester, we flipped it on its head and made it ours. It’s fierce, it’s defiant, and it’s exactly what Eville stands for.”

The fact that it was simply something that happened, that felt right, matters, and that’s significant. More significant, though, is the fact that there was simply no cause for concern, as they’ve absolutely mastered the sound they’re after here. The track dives in with the fattest, filthiest bass grind, and then the guitar is a dense wall of distortion, and then Eva’s vocals are sassy but keenly melodic, and there are layers of harmony in the mix and once again, they’ve mined solid gold. Balancing crunching juggernaut grungy / nu-metal riffery – something about both the sound and structure of the musical elements are reminiscent of Filter here – with a pop sensibility which comes through in the vocals, ‘Get With Me’ has got the lot.

And if the title suggests some kind of schmaltzy romantic allure, think again. This is Eville, and they are not to be fucked with. The mid-section brings all the grunt and threatening fists like a menacing bodyguard looming forward, before the full-throttle finish. The message of ‘Get With Me’ is really ‘get real’ – and it’s driven home hard , with brutal force. Yep, Eville have done it again….

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Demonic Death Judge – Absolutely Launched

Posted: 1 May 2025 in Albums, Reviews
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Suicide Records – 30th April 2025

Christopher Nosnibor

Blammo! With Absolutely Launched, Demonic Death Judge slam straight in with the juggernaut riffage: ‘90s Violence’ is full-throttle, in-yer-face, no pissing about, thick guitars welded to a ball-busting rhythm section where the drums absolutely pound and the bass is lurking darkly, filling out that low-end with a heavy throb, while the vocals are a full-throated roar. Drawing together the extravagance of 70s heavy rock and the raging rawness of grunge, Demonic Death Judge land firmly in the territory of 00s racketmongering guitar slingers like Pulled Apart By Horses.

The six-minute ‘You’ve Got Red on You’ chugs and lurches along with all the grain and heft and would be just another heavy stoner cut taking its cues from Les Zeppelin and Black Sabbath were it not for the ravaged, gargling gasolene vocal, which is raw, incendiary. And on Absolutely Launched, they just keep on blasting out the meatiest, most monster riffs with no let-up. Any slower, less-up-front segments, such as the mid-sections of ‘You’ve Got Red on You’ and ‘Goner’, the latter of which chimes nicely, are simply brief breathers where they reload and come back, all guns blazing, twice as hard. They do chill things out on the mellow blues of ‘I Realise That… Now’, and it presents a switch in the emotional tone, too, hinting at a more reflective, contemplative side to the band which stands in contrast to the rest of the album, which is anything but reflective or contemplative, and instead rages all the way, breathing fire with every chord struck – and those chords are struck hard and at maximum volume.

Absolutely Launched is a magnificent exercise in spectacular excess, and it’s truly glorious. If you’re going to go big and hefty, and utterly ballistic, there can be no half-measures. Everything is overloading, cranked up to eleven. There aren’t many solos, instead favouring the monster riff as the dominant feature, but when the solos land, they’re epic, and wild. ‘Dead Dogs’ simply tears. ‘Spliffhanger’ roars in a raw-throated forest fire of a relentless rager, while the seven-minute title track which wraps the album is monumental in its punishment.

The easy blues rock touches which occasionally grace the compositions hint at accessibility and a more overt musicality, but more than anything, Absolutely Launched is all the revs, foot to the floor riffery, and it’s a behemoth of an album.

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