Posts Tagged ‘Sludge Metal’

Puget Sound’s progressive sludge-metal collective Mother Crone have shared another glimpse of their long-awaited second album Embrace the Death, set for release in early 2026.

After revealing of the title track, the band now present their brand-new single ‘Fever Stone’. A bold and foreboding taste of what’s to come, ‘Fever Stone’ marks Mother Crone’s return in towering form – a storm of crushing groove and progressive textures that announces a powerful new chapter for the band.

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Formed in the Puget Sound area of Washington in 2013, Mother Crone are a band forged from diverse musical backgrounds, converging to create a sound that is as heavy as it is dynamic. Drawing on influences that stretch from the psychedelic depths of Pink Floyd, the classic heaviness of Black Sabbath, and the groove-driven attack of Pantera, to the progressive and atmospheric worlds of Bison B.C., Alcest, and Shrinebuilder, the band weave a progressive/post-metal tapestry that shifts seamlessly between doom, thrash, and groove.

The band introduced themselves with their debut album Awakening in 2015, followed by two years of extensive touring across the region. Life’s demands eventually forced the group to slow down, but Mother Crone have now returned revitalized and refocused, ready to deliver their most ambitious material yet.

With their forthcoming sophomore record Embrace the Death, Mother Crone push their sound to new extremes, heavier, darker, and more expansive. Backed by a refreshed lineup featuring Preston Wilson (bass), Charlie Romano (drums), Edoardo Curatolo (guitar), and Joe Frothingham (guitar/vocals), the band aim to raise the standards of energy and execution in the Seattle scene and beyond.

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For the second single from the companion album Best of Nine Inch Nails Redux that will be released parallel to the forthcoming MER Redux Series instalment The Downward Spiral Redux, sludge metal outfit THOU from Baton Rouge, Louisiana pay an ultra-heavy tribute with their cover of the NIN track ‘Suck’.

THOU comment by quoting Emil Cioran: “True confessions are written with tears only”, vocalist Bryan Funck cites an adage of the Romanian philosopher from 1934: “But my tears would drown the world, as my inner fire would reduce it to ashes.”

Parallel to the companion album Best of Nine Inch Nails Redux, Magnetic Eye Records will release The Downward Spiral Redux that contains 14 cover renditions of the original album tracks in sequence, recorded by some of the most compelling artists in hard and heavy music today.

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New Irish trio Rún are preparing to release their debut self-titled album on Rocket Recordings on 22nd August, and today share with us another taster in the form of ‘Strike It’.

About the track the band comment, “’Strike It’: A barely contained explosive doom riff with an industrial patina; points to the hypocrisy of a religious institution in profound dereliction of its duty to the most weak and vulnerable of us. The song addresses the macabre details of the Tuam babies controversy in Co. Galway, Ireland.”

The Irish word Rún can mean secret, mystery, or love, or perhaps some elusive combination of the three, reflecting the many aspects of life that defy easy explanation. In wrestling with these, it can become necessary to commit oneself entirely, to jump in at the psychic deep end in search of the vibrations and feelings at hand. This is where the band Rún come in.

The debut album of Rún – the result of three powerful artists locking horns and bringing equally passionate and uncompromising approaches to bear – is no less than an extraordinary collective catharsis. Yet more evidence that true heaviness is about much more than a cranked amp. It’s an emotionally driven and richly atmospheric journey into the darkest recesses of states earthly and unearthly, from a spiritually intrepid outfit who alchemise experimental methods and improvisatory states to reach intimidating heights of sonic and psychic intensity.

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Live dates:

21 Aug / Galway / Roisin Dubh
22 Aug / Cork / Nudes
27 Aug / Dublin / Spindizzy Records (instore)
29-31 Aug / Birmingham / Supersonic Festival
6 Sep / Sligo / Minor Disturbance Festival
15 Nov / London / Rich Mix (w/ Sirom)
19 Nov / Glasgow / The Glad Cafe
20 Nov / Newcastle / The Lubber Fiend

Rún comprise firstly Tara Baoth Mooney – sometime Jim Henson voice artist, with a longstanding background in everything from folk and choral music to experimental film-making. Diarmuid MacDiarmada – Nurse With Wound co-conspirator and brother of Lankum’s Cormac, brings with him the experience of avant-garde collaborations with a plethora of artists stretching back over thirty years. Drummer, sound designer and engineer Rian Trench, meanwhile, has worked on everything from the psychedelic IDM of Solar Bears to auto-generative experiments to orchestral arrangements, and owns the studio – The Meadow on Ireland’s East Coast – in which the album was made.  
The disparate artistic practices of the three members of the band collude in this context to create something no member could have foreseen. “Beyond the larger themes we explore, the work is often inspired by dreams, synchronicities, and other uncanny influences found in everyday life” reckons Diarmiud.

Besides this, an extremely diverse range of musical influences make their presence felt here, from William Basinski and Pauline Oliveros to Om, Coil and The Necks. “Suffice to say that there was a variety of sacred musics, acid-folk, cosmic jazz, stoner / sludge-metal, avant-garde composers and a hint of R&B being ground up and baked in with everything else in our wonky witches’ kitchen.” They say, “Things that possibly shouldn’t go together are juxtaposed to create something surprising and new.”

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Photo by Robert ‘Scan’ Watson

Portuguese heavy sludge hitters Vaneno have just dropped the official video for ‘Sludgehammer’, the crushing second single from their forthcoming album Chaos, Hostility, Murder, due out May 26 on Raging Planet Records.

Shot in black and white, ‘Sludgehammer’ embodies everything Vaneno stands for: heavy, unrelenting riffs, cavernous grooves, and a primal energy that feels like it could destroy entire brick walls. The track delivers a punishing blend of sludge, stoner, and death metal, the kind of sound that grabs you by the throat and doesn’t let go.

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Finnish sludge metal powerhouse Demonic Death Judge has just revealed the official video for “Goner”, the blistering new single from their upcoming fifth album, Absolutely Launched, due out on April 30th via Suicide Records.

True to the band’s raw and gritty aesthetic, ‘Goner’ is a sludge-soaked sledgehammer of a track—loaded with thunderous riffs, blues-drenched venom, and apocalyptic swagger.

“We’ve all burned some bridges in our time,” says vocalist Jaakko Heinonen. “I certainly have. Man, even houses, not to mention churches. This is a story about a man who took a few too many wrong steps in his life. And now, the pay is due. This one is a goddamn banger!”

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Philadelphia-based industrial sludge metal band WORST ONES has unleashed the new single ‘Vex’. The track is a crushing, no-holds-barred exploration of Americaʼs decaying ideals. Drawing from the bitter truth of the American Dream’s collapse, the track delves deep into the rise of fascism and the heartbreaking act of protest by soldier Aaron Bushnell, who self-immolated in protest of the war in Palestine.

Musically, ‘Vex’ fuses the raw aggression of ’90s hardcore with the sludgy weight of doom and the mechanical grind of industrial metal, drawing influences from the likes of Biohazard, Eyehategod, and Godflesh. A standout element of the track is the signature “sickness” – rhythmic noise loops that twist and churn alongside the brutal guitars and drums, creating a suffocating atmosphere of unease. It’s a track thatʼs as punishing as it is poignant, reflecting the chaotic, fractured state of the world today.

WORST ONES has explained the meaning of the song as follows:

“’Vex’ is an expression of disillusionment and resistance under the weight of a system built on lies. The lyrics question what freedom is when we live in a country that supports widespread oppression and death. There’s a sense of despair in the verses and searching for answers in the chorus but in the end the song turns into a statement of defiance and resilience.

The opening line “Wasted life is on us, covered all up in flames” addresses the heinous amount of people killed in war and how “the powers that be” utilize new types of bombs that don’t even leave behind a body, literally covering it up.

The lyric “Do you really believe the reaper will bring peace” challenges the concept that violence and killing would bring peace. It questions the false idea that through war or death there can be an end to suffering.

The final lines “They want to destroy us, but we can’t be beat" reaffirm that despite everything, resistance is still possible and even inevitable to triumph. It’s a defiant statement in the face of a system designed to crush individuals, but where the refusal to give up remains unbroken. I wanted to end the song with a statement of positivity and strength.

The story of Aaron Bushnell, who self-immolated in protest of the war in Palestine, deeply resonated with me. He was someone who joined the US Army, maybe out of ignorance or patriotism, only to feel betrayed by what he was asked to do. His act of protest was a refusal to be complicit in a system that had deceived him, and that sense of betrayal and defiance is something Vex reflects. It’s a statement of refusal in the face of violence, war, and manipulation.

As a Syrian American, these themes aren’t just abstract ideas to me. I’ve experienced how propaganda shapes people’s perceptions, how violence is justified in the name of power, and how the most vulnerable are always the first to suffer. I wrote the lyrics with a universal approach to the words because it’s not just now, it’s about the cycles of control, war, and resistance that keep repeating. This song is my way of expressing frustration, grief, and the refusal to be silenced.”

‘Vex’ is accompanied by a lyric video – watch it here:

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Worst Ones band photo

ROT ROOM – 6th December 2024

Christopher Nosnibor

Super-spiky, not-really-legible font? Check. White on black cover art? Check. Goats galore? Check: in the title and on the cover. This is going to be some gnarly metal din, right? Right. Sometimes, you can judge a book – or a record – by its cover.

Goatslayer is the second EP of 2024 for North Carolina ‘southern-fried sludge quartet’ Fireblood, following the Hellalujah EP, released in April.

They promise a work which ‘take[s] the genre in a somehow meaner, more extreme direction, they employ massive atonal guitars, booming drums, and churning low end to create a caustic, thick-as-molasses sound that has a physical weight to its thunderous mid-tempo grooves. Lumbering ever forward, each stomping beat comes laden with the threat of eruption, and when the top does blow it’s an explosion of seething rage.’

While I wasn’t aware that theirs was a specific genre, I’m on board with this, not least of all because the EPs four tracks are magnificently mangled, feedback-strewn heavy as hell riff-fests with an obsession with death.

‘A Perfect Place for Death’ is a lumbering chuggernaut, with overdriven power chords galore and processed, fucked-up vocals which add a deranged psychedelic edge to the purgatorial experience. As much as there are hints of Melvins in the blend, the vocal treatment reminds me of Henry Blacker, knowingly over the top and uncommonly high in the mix, but everything congeals into a thick black tarry sonic soup. ‘Death Comes Rolling’ thunders in hard, beating its chest and stamping its feet against an industrial-strength riff and roaring, glass ‘n’ gasolene gargling vocals. It ain’t pretty: it’s not supposed to be. It’s not subtle, either, but again, it’s not supposed to be.

They slow the pace to a crawl on the trudging ‘Burning Underground’, and it very much feel like being dragged by the collar down an endless staircase hewn in rock, the temperature rising as sulphurous lava and eternal flames draw ever closer, before ‘A.I.G.O.D.’ locks into a relentless and powerful groove, and pummels away at a dingy riff for seven and a half punishing minutes. Around halfway through, something twists and suddenly it seems to get even denser, sludgier, heavier, the guitar overload threatening to do damage to your speakers. The long, slow fade comes almost as a relief in easing the cranial pressure. This is a beast, and no mistake.

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Portugal’s heavy hitters, Vaneno, have returned with a vengeance, unveiling the video for ‘Necropotent,’ the first single from their highly anticipated new album, Chaos, Hostility, Murder. This track marks the band’s first release since their 2020 offering, Struggle Through Absurdity, and it’s nastier, louder, heavier, and darker than anything they’ve done before.

“‘Necropotent’ is a caustic and maddening vision of a world that intertwines with our own. We all know who you are. The real necro lords who thrive in misery, pestilence, and chaos, forever feeding the abyss with the eternal rest of the fallen.” Says the band. This powerful and unsettling message is matched by the song’s crushing riffs and relentless rhythms, delivering an intense auditory experience that will leave listeners reeling.

Watch the video here:

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The upcoming album, Chaos, Hostility, Murder, was mixed and mastered by Pedro Mau at SinWav Audio, who also worked on the band’s debut EP. The album is set to be released through Raging Planet Records, further solidifying Vaneno’s place as one of the most promising Portuguese metal bands of today.

Vaneno’s journey began in 2017 when three friends — Miguel Nunes (drums), Eduardo Cunha (guitar), and António Tavares (guitar) — started jamming together, laying the foundation for what would become their distinct sludge-infused sound. By late 2019, the band expanded to a five-piece with the addition of Pedro Fernandes on bass and Alexandre Fernandes on vocals, marking a turning point in their commitment to bringing their music to the masses.

Since then, the band has undergone a lineup change, with Eduardo Cunha stepping down and Felipe Peraboa taking over on guitar.

Their previous release, Struggle Through Absurdity, showcased four powerful tracks that blend sludge, stoner, and death metal influences, creating an aggressive sound full of heavy, muscular riffs and pummeling rhythms. Vaneno’s raw, unrelenting style continues to evolve, and Chaos, Hostility, Murder promises to take their music to even greater heights.

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Australian purveyors of caustic and slow-burning sludge, Sundowner, have dropped a music video for a new song titled ‘Substance Abuse’, which is taken from the band’s second full-length album Lysergic Ritual due out on April 20th.  

The album sees the band continuing its heavy dirge of grim, feedback laden, nihilistic sludge first offered on their 2021 debut album Guns, Knives And Tyre Irons.
Lysergic Ritual is the best representation we’ve put together of what Sundowner is; just dirty, noisy, heavy sludge,” says the band.

“Having previously done everything on our own: recording/mixing/mastering etc, this time we decided to bring in Jason Fuller from Goatsound Studios to mix the album and Dav Byrne from Iridium Audio to master it, both based in Melbourne, Australia.”

Intoxicated, bluesy and corrosive riffs permeate the album from beginning to end, all mixed with an aggressive and intense mid-tempo swing and violent hardcore punk passages; for the burnt out and downtrodden.

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Drawing on inspiration from the likes of Eyehategod, Iron Monkey, Buzzov-en, Weedeater and a slew of other miscreants, Sundowner play sludge intended for those set on personal annihilation to drop out of life and embrace the sacred ritual of the riff. It’s an uneasy listening for troubled times.

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SILVERBURN, the new solo project by James ‘Jimbob’ Isaac (Hark & Taint) will release its debut album Self Induced Transcendental Annihilation via MSH Group Music on August 11.

Welsh metal visionary Jimbob Isaac, known from his previous bands Taint and Hark, recorded the new album during lockdown in 2020. He handled all vocals, guitar, bass and drums himself. With this album, Jimbob has meticulously crafted a wholly uncompromising solo offering in the truest sense. It has been said that extreme conditions demand extreme responses, and Self Induced Transcendental Annihilation (‘SITA’) began as an elemental response to the almighty global gut-punch that surrounded it’s creation.

James ‘Jimbob’ Isaac about ‘Formless’: “This one’s for the metaphysics nerds! ‘ormless..’’ is an ode to solitude, meditation and cosmic implosions! The video is an extension of my real-life solo mission, in making this album and the art and video work ongoing. I mean, of course I made myself into cyborgs to play all the instruments.”

From the world-ending double-kick maelstrom of opening track ‘Annihilation’ to the cinematic, discordant chug and release of ‘Etheric Crush’ this album draws from Isaac’s beloved eras of 90’s metal and 00’s metallic hardcore, noisecore, space and sludge metal and bands like Botch, Mastodon, Knut, Converge, Keelhaul, Crowbar, Sepultura, Neurosis and Helmet.

Today Silverburn share second track ‘Formless Atomization Of Omniscient Particulate’. Check it here:

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Pic: Chris Treseder

Silverburn live are a three piece now, first confirmed dates:

Aug 12 – The Bunkhouse Swansea

Aug 18th – Arctangent Festival

Sept 8th – Oslo London w/ Mutoid Man

Sept 13th – The Exchange Bristol w/ Mutoid Man