Posts Tagged ‘Sludge’

Stream: ‘Sado Sex for Dummies’ by Loose Sutures – FULL ALBUM featuring Nick Oliveri and Alain Johannes

Posted: 26 May 2023 in Recommended Streams and Videos
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Fuzzy stoner/garage punk group Loose Sutures has released their third record, Sado Sex for Dummies, today (26 May) via Electric Valley Records. The Sardinian act’s first studio outing as a trio, the album features a couple of other guests, including the heavy rock royalties Nick Oliveri and Alain Johannes.

States Loose Sutures: “Sado Sex for Dummies is the ultimate guide for all the pervs across the globe! On this sticky tour, you’ll find all you need: how to escape from a party gone wrong and survive a spell to your bone, chronicles from a highway shooter, valentines from Lucifer, and so much more. So whip out the whips and let’s welcome violence!”

Listen here:

Assembled in 2019 by four roughnecks, Loose Sutures plays classic ’70s riffs with a pinch of modern punk attitude, conjuring a blend of stoner and garage energy and displaying an abundance of evil beats, venomous fuzzes, and raunchy lyrics. Loose Sutures’ music has been praised by fans and critics for evoking a dark and seductive atmosphere reminiscent of cult exploitation movies.

Depicting killer profiles and kinky love stories, the Sardinian group presented their self-titled debut LP in March 2020 via Electric Valley Records. They followed it up with the sophomore album, A Gash with Sharp Teeth and Other Tales, the following year via Electric Valley Records; it later saw a Japanese edition in the Spring of 2022. Introducing the newly recruited Giuseppe Hussain (who replaced Gianpaolo Cherchi, guitars/vocals), the album is “a journey delving into lust with filthy guitars, stoned rhythms, and creepy voices escorting you deep inside the sticky core of what you fear yet desire at the same time.”

Loose Sutures again encountered a lineup change in 2022 when Giuseppe Hussain left the band, leaving the band to operate as a trio. It was a setback, but they refused to let it hold them back. Longtime fellow Marco “Grey” Manca joined to take care of the role of Giuseppe on the “High Heeled Barbarians Tour” around Europe the same year.
Sado Sex for Dummies, as the name hints, is a complete handbook to satisfy the needs of the pervs, sadists, and killers out there. An invitation to indulge in fuzz-drenched, punk-‘n-roll violence, this third record from Loose Sutures has no shortage of lurid stories. While there is a touch of evolution, the album has not strayed too far from the band’s established hard, fast, and crude sound. To add more spice to some songs, the album features some guest musicians, including the legendary Nick Oliveri and Alain Johannes.

Get ready to be taken on a frenzied ride into the depths of your darkest desires.

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Old Mayor – Shelter Ceremony Collapse

Posted: 2 May 2023 in Singles and EPs
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Human Worth – 17th March 2023

Christopher Nosnibor

For context, I shall quote from the notes which accompany this release: ‘Old Mayor are Adam Kammerling and Owen Gildersleeve (Modern Technology / Human Worth). They were most active between 2005 – 2009 sharing bills with the likes of Boris, Russian Circles, Heirs, A Storm of Light, Orange Goblin and ASVA. ‘Shelter Ceremony Collapse’ was recorded during a stint in New York in the winter of 2008, where the duo laid down this beastly three track, recorded by Chris Pierce at Technical Ecstasy Studio in New Brunswick. But the recording never saw the light of day, with the duo parting ways soon after.

‘Fifteen years later, on hearing the news that legendary Brighton promoters Tatty Seaside Town, who’d given the band their first shows back in the early years, were calling it a day and putting on a final weekender the duo felt it was the right time to finally come back together. To celebrate they unearthed this EP.’

They certainly achieved a considerable amount during their time active, but left a scant record of it in the form of a critically-lauded eponymous five-track EP, which makes the immensely-belated arrival of this archival recording all the more welcome, and for those unfamiliar with them the first time around (myself included), Shelter Ceremony Collapse provides an outstanding introduction.

There’s an adage about how you treat people when you’re on the way up, and this release and the circumstances surrounding it are very much characteristic of Owen and Human Worth: not only reconvening Old Mayor for a farewell concert, but releasing the EP with a portion of proceeds going to charity speaks for the nature of the people and the operation.

As for the EP itself… While the title has a ring to it as a phrase, while conjuring mental images of crumbling edifices and societal disarray and something vaguely post-apocalyptic (or perhaps I simply have a vivid imagination which steers oof its own accord toward the bleaker, darker prospects), it’s also the titles of the EP’s three songs in the order they appear.

That said ‘Shelter’ is so heavy it almost brings about its own collapse inside the first two of its monstrous six minutes. It’s a slow, dirgy tune that begins delicately with clean, picked guitar, building a misty atmosphere of mist and loam, the resonant timbres of the strings rich and earthy and redolent of Neurosis – and then the distortion and drums pound in, hard and heavy and hit like a tidal wave crashing with full force against the abdomen and knocking the air from the lungs.

Kammerling’s screaming vocals are largely buried beneath the sludgy landslide; he sounds possessed, but is barely audible for the downtuned sludge, and Owen’ hard-hitting drums cut through with thunderous force.

‘Ceremony’ is but an instrumental interlude, a cacophony of shrieks and wails. It may only be a couple of minutes long, but the sounds of tortured souls leave you feeling unsettled and uncomfortable, which is either a bad state or the ideal state to receive the shuddering blast of the crushing ‘Collapse’. It’s properly heavy, snail-paced doom, and it’s potent, powerful stuff.

It would be wonderful to think that the one-off reunion wasn’t a one-off, and that it might spur more performances and perhaps even more new material – but they’ve already spoiled us, and Shelter Ceremony Collapse is the perfect release to expand and confirm their place in the annals.

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Herod – Iconoclast

Posted: 12 April 2023 in Albums
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Pelagic Records – 5th May 2023

Christopher Nosnibor

‘Biblical’ has become a byword for something tremendously large, epic, or of intense proportion, but also brutal and torturous and bloody. King Herod the Great is perhaps best known, not for his extensive construction projects, but for ordering the slaughter of the innocents: fearful of the threat of a ‘new king’, the story goes (although only according to Matthew) that he ordered the execution of all male children who are two years old and under in the vicinity of Bethlehem. The legend has inspired some pretty horrific depictions in art, from Duccio Di Buoninsegna to Reubens, and in context, Herod is an outstanding name for a metal band. And Herod live up to their name, too.

Iconoclast is a clear step on from Sombre Dessein, released in 2019. Back then, they were touting a ‘progressive sludge’ sound: in contrast, their lasts bio sees the band describe themselves as ‘atmospheric groove metal’.

“I’m obsessed with late 90’s Meshuggah, early Dillinger Escape Plan, and early Cult of Luna,” explains guitarist Pierre Carroz deftly about the influences behind the sound of his brainchild.

But for all the stylistic progression, thematically, they’re still squarely focused on the societal scourge of religion, as the title suggests, and it kicks off hard and heavy with ‘The Icon’, a barrelling, churning grind of dirty guitars which at the most unexpected moments switch tempo and gets tetchy and technical. Then, just shy of five minutes on, there are some clean, drawling vocals reminiscent of Alice in Chains – but disembodied, bent, it’s like Layne Staley is calling from the other side, and within just six minutes and a single track, Herod have slammed down a whole album’s worth of ideas.

The thematic thread is also apparent in the song titles, all of we which are ‘The…’ something. If imbues the album with a sense of being a book with the songs as chapters with corresponding titles which guide the way through a discursive exploration. Only, that discussion is a blast-out, a levelling by force.

There are eight tracks all, most well over the six-minute mark, and they blend sedated melodies with expansive guitar, raging, raw-throated vocals and thunderous percussion. There are slow, sedate passages, as on ‘The Girl with a Balloon’ which invite comparison to the earthy, low-tempo grit of Neurosis, and they really bring the weight when the riffs crash in. As much as the monolithic power chords dominate, the earth-shattering bass is absolutely essential to the sound.

‘The Ode to’ marks a significant shift in form, a resonantly vocal chorus scaling the heights and looking upwards to the heavens, a works of majesty that speaks to the ethereal and the eternal – but over the duration, the guitars harden and drive until the mid-point achieves a punishing plateau of distortion before returning to a mesmerising sway brimming with Eastern promise – before once again a landslide of guitars bring absolute devastation.

Herod get devastation, and get atmospheric, too. They get the merit of a melody, but tend to really delay gratification in favour of punishment before reward. Mostly, though, they get the power of punishment, and they mete out plenty of that over the course of fifty minutes. It’s a big fifty minutes, and it’s as heavy as fuck.

The nine-minute finale is heavily immersed in progressive sounds and styling, but when the crushing riffs blast in, all is well.

For all of the moments of levity and mindfulness, Iconoclast is everything fans – myself included – would want from Herod – snarling, churning riffs and roaring vocals, which combine to absolutely devastating effect. They’ve certainly evolved, but they’ve not lost sight of their sound, and have simply expanded it.

The resultant Iconoclast is an absolute monster.

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Listen: ‘Seinämän takana’ by Radien feat. Dylan Walker

Posted: 7 April 2023 in Reviews
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Svart Records recently announced the release of Unissa palaneet, the sophomore album by the Helsinki quintet Radien. Having begun their existence on the earthly plane in 2014, Radien have forged their brand of idiosyncratic amplifier worship with passion that is in full bloom on Unissa palaneet. The debut album SYVYYS (2018), given a warm welcome by the international doom/sludge crowd, swam in murkier and more monotone waters, whereas the follow-up presents breathtakingly heavy widescreen sludge that paints its oozing black hues in technicolor.

Unissa palaneet tells a story of a person who finds a calm spot inside himself or herself amid chaos, and starts to see visions and dreams of the end times of humanity. The band comment,

“The protagonist’s dreams turn lucid, and he/she understands them being prophecies of the future. He/she understands being capable of altering the course of history through his visions, but in the end decides that it is best to let things happen as they are meant to happen and not intervene in anything. In the end the dreams and visions mix with one another and become reality. Nature strikes back at humanity and in the end the human era ends in flames and ash”, comments the Felipe Hauri from the band.

According to the band new single ‘Seinämän Takana’, which features Dylan Walker from Full of Hell "depicts a moment when the boundaries between dreams and reality break. Dreams and visions are no longer merely dreams, but omens waiting to manifest themselves in reality.”

Listen to the single now:

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Watch: ‘Cocaine Footprints’ by These Beasts

Posted: 30 March 2023 in Recommended Streams and Videos
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THESE BEASTS release a dashing video for the track ‘Cocaine Footprints’ as the final single taken from their forthcoming new album Cares, Wills, Wants. The crushing new full-length from the Chicago sludgy noise rock trio is slated for release on April 21, 2023 through Magnetic Eye Records.

Watch the video here:

THESE BEASTS comment: “There’s a bar near our rehearsal building that is sort of a hang out for bands and a great place to catch up with friends and talk music”, bass player and singer Todd Fabian relates. “One day, our friend Shirilla told us a hilarious story about someone calling the bar and asking him to find their cocaine. Of course, he told them no, but after getting off the phone, he did look over and saw these cocaine footprints coming out of the bathroom. Once we named the song that, the lyrics became an ambiguous story about our local hangout and our friends there. We also had a listening party at the bar one night after we got our test press and filmed a lot of it for the video.”

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These Beasts by Joe Malone

Grub Nap – God Pile

Posted: 17 March 2023 in Singles and EPs
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Human Worth – 17th March 2023

Christopher Nosnibor

God Pile is the debut release from Leeds duo Grub Nap, a duo consisting of Dan Barter (Dvne, Joe Pesci) on guitar and ‘back mouth’ and Steve Myles (Cattle, Groak, Thank, Khuda) on drums and ‘front mouth’. As if their joint pedigree isn’t recommendation enough (and having witnessed the majority of the aforementioned acts playing life for myself, I can vouch for that), it’s being released on Human Worth, and the limited run of fifty tapes has gone in advance of the release date.

And being Human Worth, 10% of all proceeds are being donated to charity, in this instance Leeds Mind, promoting positive mental health and wellbeing and providing help and support to those who need it most.

Now, I’ve mentioned this variously before, but for mental health and wellbeing, music can be – and certainly is for me – an immense help, and it’s the gnarlier, noiser stuff I often find provides the greatest comfort, especially in a live setting. It’s all about the escape, the release, the catharsis of raw emotions pitched against raging noise.

And Barter and Myles, who, according to the band bio ‘first played together in a hardcore band in their late teens and have teamed back up to churn out sludgecore for folks with short attention spans and no interest in wizards or flag waving’ definitely bring the noise, and the describe God Pile as ‘a golden brown, 15 minute, crumbly, introspective riff lattice. Snappy(ish) songs about greed, crippling anxiety, suburban nuclear mishaps and flagellant rozzers. 6 knuckle dragging clods of down tuned insolent rage.’

The longest of the six songs on here is three minutes and eighteen seconds long: the rest are all between a minute and two-and-a-half minutes long.

They pack a lot of action and a lot of noise into those short spans. The guitars are so thick and gritty the riffs churn your guts, so you don’t miss the bass, and Myles’ hard-hitting drumming is dynamic and varied, with shifts in both volume and tempo keeping the songs moving well, and the Raw-throated vocals are absolutely brutal. There’s a late 80s / early 90s feel to their brand of dingy noise, landing somewhere between early Head of David and Fudge Tunnel, then going full grind on the minute–long ‘The Daily Phet’.

Slowing to a downtuned crawl and ending with a howl of feedback, one suspect the title of the last track, ‘Crowd Pleaser’ is likely ironic – you can’t really have a go-nuts mosh to this. But then, after the intensity of the preceding cuts, you’re a knackered sweaty mess already – and that’s just sitting at home listening. Oh yes. Grub Nap hit the spot.

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AGLO – Into the Maze

Posted: 16 February 2023 in Albums
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Gutter Prince Cabal – 16th February 2023

Christopher Nosnibor

There aren’t many guitar-based genres of music where one-man bands are particularly commonplace. Of course, I’m not talking about folk or acoustic-based music, but the kind of music where, on listening, you’d expect a full band. Industrial is something of an exception because early exponents like JG Thirlwell – aka Foetus – developed through the use of tape loops and studio experimentation, and the same is also true of later exponents like Nine Inch Nails, with Trent Reznor’s studio-based project evolving from being largely synthetic into a live proposition.

But black / death metal are genres unto themselves. One might joke that it’s because most of the people who make this kind of stuff have no mates or are too antisocial to form bands, although it may not be much of a joke. Either way, Melbourne-based Aaron Osborne is one of those one-man operations, handling all aspects of writing and playing to create the sound of several. And what a sound it is. If you want dark, dense, and sludgy, with bowel-loosening guttural vocals, then you’re in luck.

Into the Maze – a twenty-seven minute album – or mini-album – actually comprises two new songs plus four cuts previously released as the Collector EP.

You don’t listen to this stuff to be uplifted – but you do dive into it for escape, and Into the Maze brings that cathartic release.

The title track is monster slab of downtuned darkness. There are some guitar screeches which emerge from the relentless trudge that call to mind Fudge Tunnel, but this is denser, slower, doomier, and somehow less organic-feeling, like early Pitch Shifter but with live drums, and passing a nod to how they take ‘the swagger and groove of Entombed’s Wolverine Blues and infuse it with the tar-thick pull of doom’. But against Wolverine Blues, it’s half the pace and the lyrics are unintelligible grunts, so it’s very much an example of taking an influence and steering it in a different direction. And this is a good thing. The production is perfectly dingy and oppressive, and over the course of just short of half an hour it really grinds you down in just the way it should. In all, it’s pretty bloody brutal. I dig.

Oh, and that’s one hell of a logo.

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Remote Viewing – Modern Addictions

Posted: 1 February 2023 in Albums
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Human Worth – 3rd February 2023

Christopher Nosnibor

A shriek of feedback prefaces the gnarly blast of a monster rhythm section, thunderous drums paired with a snarling bass. And so begins ‘Short Distance Runner’, the first of six songs on Remote Viewing’s Modern Addictions. You know in an instant that it’s going to be good.

Of course, you know it’s going to be good before you hear a single sound.

Featuring members of Palehorse, Million Dead, Sly & The Family Drone, Nitkowski and Wound (to name but a few) is quite the underground supergroup. Plus, Modern Addictions is being released on Human Worth, which is in itself a guarantee of heavy, noisy shit of the highest calibre. So yes, you know it’s going to be good. But even then, it’s hard to be braced for something this good.

The guitar alternates between thick, sludgy chords and really sinewy lead lines that buzz and drill, twist and bend and wrap themselves around you and dig in like barbed wire. The tracks are backed back to back, making the cumulative effect of the heavy battering even more acutely felt. Single cut ‘Your Opinion is Wrong’, showcased here in December is broadly representative of the dense, chunky, churning sound of the album as a whole, but doesn’t fully convey the extent of its textures and variety.

It’s not all punishing density, and the band are keen to highlight that theirs is a sound that demonstrates a ‘broader sound that incorporates elements of hardcore, post-rock and shoegaze into the palette of sludge and noise-rock’.

There are some tight grooves amidst the racket, ‘Wasted on Purpose’ effortlessly transitions through a number of varied passages, from full-on balls-out riffage to delicate, evocative swirling post-rock chimes which gracefully convey a very different kind of emotional weight, and if the title ‘Cleveland Balloonfest ‘86’ suggests something bright and airy, sonically it’s more the Hindenburg disaster with it’s slow, low-slung growling guitar that grinds away at a crawl for six and a half anguish-filled minutes.

If ‘Watch Me For the Changes’ is a demonic dirge of epic proportions with a remarkably light ending (and you can’t help but suspect the title is perhaps a reference to the band’s directions for playing it) ,the final track, ‘A.B.B.A. ABBA’ springs an unexpected surprise as the band switch into disco mode. No, of course it doesn’t really. It’s seven minutes of dolorous doom, thick with atmosphere and dripping distortion. It’s the sound of weight so great that it feels as if it’s collapsing in on itself, decaying and crumbling on the way to a slow death, that leaves you feeling hollowed out and devastated. It’s the perfect finale to a superlative album.

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Listen: ‘Into the Maze’ by AGLO

Posted: 21 January 2023 in Recommended Streams and Videos
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Gutter Prince Cabal is proud to announce the release of Melbourne-based sludgy death-metal project AGLO new EP "Into The Maze", now set for release on February 16th on vinyl/digital download.

With ‘Into the Maze’, this one-man doom project created by Aaron Osborne unleash 6 filthy and crushing tracks that take the swagger and groove of Entombed’s ‘Wolverine Blues’ and infuse it with the tar-thick pull of doom. Lumbering like some slow-crawling and atrocious beast through the murk of a polluted swamp, AGLO seem to take pride in all that is rusty and ugly, delivering exceptionally murky and nasty riffs, slow and powerful drumbeats and tormented growls.

Today, AGLO unleash the title-track of the EP, check it out here:

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Watch: ‘Your Opinion Is Wrong’ by Remote Viewing

Posted: 1 December 2022 in Recommended Streams and Videos
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Ahead of the release of Modern Addictions available to pre-order from 2nd December, Human Worth have unveiled a video for Remote Viewing’s ‘Your Opinion Is Wrong’.

Featuring members of Palehorse, Million Dead, Sly & The Family Drone, Nitkowski and Wound (to name but a few) the band are no strangers to making heavy music, but together they demonstrate an even broader sound that incorporates elements of hardcore, post-rock and shoegaze into the palette of sludge and noise-rock.

Featuring guest vocals from Amée Chanter of Human Leather, ‘Your Opinion Is Wrong’ is an absolute belter of a raging racket, and it’s absolutely brutal in the best possible way. Check it here:

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