The amount of legendary bands coming back from the dead recently is quite staggering. Last year, we got rather excellent comeback albums from Gorguts, Carcass, and Extol, and later this year, At the Gates is set to release a new album. In addition to these, there is yet another lesser known, albeit equally important band set to release their first album in 11 years. Stoner metal trio Floor may not be immediately familiar to followers of heavy music, but they helped to pave the way for the onslaught of stoner/sludge bands that have popped up in recent years, including Baroness, Kylesa, and Red Fang. Most importantly, thunder-pop connoisseurs Torche were formed from the remnants of Floor, with frontman Steve Brooks performing vocals and guitars in both bands, giving them remarkable sonic similarities. In other words, if you like Torche, you’re going to love Floor.
2004’s Dove was the last album that Floor released before disbanding and going on to form Torche. That’s all about to change though, as Floor are set to release their first album in 11 years, Oblation, on April 25th through Season of Mist. The band premiered the first taste of the album over at Stereogum today, and it’s great. Aside from the obvious Torche comparisons, ‘War Party’ has a nice bottom-end groove to it that should appease fans of stoner metal, and a Kurt Ballou mixing job is the cherry on top of the whole package. Oblation is definitely one to keep your ears on. Between this and the new H A R K album, it’s looking to be a great year for stoner/sludge.
– AL