Tag Archive: sludge

Abraham – An Eye on the Universe

Filed Under: Reviews

Apr.27, 2011

Abraham

An Eye on the Universe

01. Coyote Versus Machete
02. Saloon Bizarre
03. Astro Zombies
04. The Statues
05. Bullet Dozer
06. Herz, Knie, Staub
07. Hellsinki
08. Baruch

[Pelagic Records]
[01/01/11]

A great record in any genre has two choices, strike out with something new and exciting, or produce the expected with precision, accuracy and other lovely adjectives. Think of it as reinvent the wheel or…make an especially high quality wheel (or torture a metaphor as the case may be). In the case of Abraham’s January release An Eye on the Universe, what they achieve is definitively an example of the latter. Universe is a solid sludge release, concertinaing between the crushing aggression and brooding atmosphere the genre entails, while throwing just enough curve boils to define their sound as their own. A brief glance through my sporadic contributions to this lovely blog will outline a growing propensity towards reviewing sludge releases, and I’m sure every clichéd description I could imagine has already been used, but I will battle on and try and outline what it is about this record that strikes such appeal.

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Tags: Abraham, An Eye on the Universe, post metal, sludge

Blindead – Affliction XXIX II MXMVI

Filed Under: Reviews

Mar.24, 2011

Blindead

Affliction XXIX II MXMVI

01. Self-Consciousness Is Desire and
02. After 38 Weeks
03. My New Playground Became
04. Dark and Gray.
05. So, It Feels Like Misunderstanding When
06. All My Hopes and Dreams Turn Into
07. Affliction XXVII II MMIX

[10/26/10]
[Mystic]

It’s hard to deny that last year’s progressive metal releases were dominated by the two huge releases by The Ocean. In, the somewhat eccentrically titled Affliction XXIX II MXMVI (henceforth referred to as ‘Affliction’), Polish sludge aficionados Blindead seem to go some way towards capitalising on this success. Though I’m not for a minute suggesting any foul play, it is worth noting that if you were a fan of The Ocean’s last two albums, Heliocentric especially, this album may be worth a solid listen.

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Tags: Affliction XXVII II MMIX, Blindead, doom, sludge, The Ocean

Ulcerate – The Destroyers Of All

Filed Under: Reviews

Feb.15, 2011

Ulcerate

The Destroyers of All

01. Burning Skies
02. Dead Oceans
03. Cold Becoming
04. Beneath
05. The Hollow Idols
06. Omens
07. The Destroyers of All

[01/25/11]
[Willowtip Records]

When flicking through a list of recent metal albums for something that might appeal I stumbled upon this release by New Zealand based Death Metal outfit Ulcerate. Though Death Metal, at least in its purer forms, has never really been a passion of mine, it is the apparent incorporation of Post Metal into their sound that caught my eye, not to mention some pretty glowing reviews from other online critics. I am a huge fan of Sludge and keeping that in mind, I will be reviewing this album from that perspective, so apologies in advance for my ignorance in certain aspects of this release.

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Tags: death, metal, post, sludge, Ulcerate

Thorun – Thorun EP

Filed Under: Reviews

Jan.12, 2011

Thorun

Thorun EP

01. Buried Under 15 Tonnes of Rubble
02. Look Mom! I Made A Death Machine
03. Cow Smashed In To Meat
04. Here Come The Robots
05. We Have Reached Critical Mass

[Self-released]

We here at Heavy Blog are lucky enough to have a variety of musical outfits send in music asking for our, evidently learned and trustworthy, opinion. One such group was Cardiff-based unsigned instrumental Stoner-Metal act Thorun and being a huge fan of the genre I leapt upon the opportunity to check out their material (which can be downloaded freely at this location!).

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Tags: bass, sludge, Stoner, Thorun

Oceansize – Self Preserved While the Bodies Float Up

Filed Under: Reviews

Dec.06, 2010

Oceansize

Self Preserved While the Bodies Float Up

01. Part Cardiac
02. Superimposer
03. Build Us A Rocket Then…
04. Oscar Acceptance Speech
05. Ransoms
06. A Penny’s Weight
07. Silent_Transparent
08. It’s My Tail And I’ll Chase It If I Want To
09. Pine
10. Superimposter
11. Cloak

[Superball Music | 09/14/10]

After a fortnight of finding little to write about, I thought I would take the chance to review an album released this year that I consider to be one of my favourites. I will acknowledge here that I may be slightly taking advantage of the lack of specification of the word “heavy” in this site’s name, but do so well within reason.

Oceansize’s 4th full length record, Self Preserved While The Bodies Float Up (henceforth referred to as “Self”) was released this September to rapturous critical acclaim. It demonstrates, in part, a noticeable evolution of their sound from the post-rock that marked their earlier releases, through the prog/alternative of the records preceding this, and into a style now encompassing modern sludge and post metal.

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Tags: Oceansize, post metal, post-rock, sludge

Intronaut – Valley of Smoke

Filed Under: Reviews

Oct.05, 2010

Intronaut

Valley of Smoke

01. Elegy
02. Above
03. Miasma
04. Sunderance
05. Core Relations
06. Below
07. Valley Of Smoke
08. Past Tense

[Century Media | 10/12/10]

Post, progressive, sludge, experimental, you name it, LA’s Intronaut have their hands full when it comes to having depth of range in their music. When they released their first EP Null back in 2005, it showcased the band as a progressive metal outfit with a touch of melody and aggression. And speaking of melody, Intronaut do a damn good job of it on their albums, which cannot be said of many bands nowadays. Since then, they’ve released another EP, The Challenger (2007), and two full-length albums, Void (2006) and Prehistoricisms (2008), all of them being powerhouse albums which propelled the band further into the progressive metal genre. Their newest full-length album, Valley of Smoke, which will be released on October 12, 2010 through Century Media Records, is a continuation of their past work, plus a whole lot more.

Valley of Smoke greets your ears with the natural and raw sound of feedback on the opening track “Elegy”, soon after, heavy down-tuned guitars, unusual rhythms and tones, and well-versed vocals take over and immerse the listener in a complete soundscape where everything comes together perfectly. Joe Lester once again shines on bass and makes himself known throughout with crystal clear notes that work well alongside the heavy riffs of Sacha Dunable and Dave Timnick. The deep and strained growls, provided by Sacha, are spread throughout the album and come in when needed and are never overdone, and the jazz influenced style of drummer Danny Walker propels this album to a whole other level.

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Tags: Baroness, Century Media Records, experimental, Intronaut, Mastodon, Null, post, Prehistoricisms, progressive, sludge, The Challenger, The Ocean, Valley of Smoke, void

Koriza Is Awesome. And So Is Uncle Muscles

Filed Under: Audio, Downloads, Editorials

Sep.29, 2010

Thanks to our fellow writer Uncle Muscles, I was introduced to an awesome band called Koriza. I dunno if anyone else has heard of them, but I dig ‘em a lot. They hail from Russia (and subsequently, the lyrics are Russian) and they play a genre that mixes experimental, sludge and core. I’d say they sound a lot like The Psyke Project so if you like them then you’ll probably enjoy Koriza.

But fuck the intro, just listen to them here. If you wanna take it further, you can download their free album here.

Let me know what you think!

-MK

Tags: koriza, metalcore, sludge, the psyke project

Harvey Milk – A Small Turn of Human Kindness

Filed Under: Reviews

May.18, 2010

Harvey Milk

A Small Turn of Human Kindness

1. *
2. I Just Want To Go Home
3. I Am Sick of All This Too
4. I Know This Is No Place For You
5. I Alone Got Up and Left
6. I Know This Is All My Fault
7. I Did Not Call Out

Usually I listen to an album while reviewing it, but never have I described my thoughts exactly as they come out, and limited my thoughts to the space of each song and the album length. So I’m gonna do that shit right now and see how it goes.

1st Track ( ) - The opening guitar riff is what I’d call, Star Spangled Satan. It’s an interesting opening to such an album, that’s for sure. The band punches in a couple times, but it’s mostly the guitar riffing. The band finally finds a permanent position in the mix, really picking up some atmosphere. It’s surely doomy, but the song doesn’t contain that familiar bleak, and downtrodden atmosphere that usually comes with the genre. The riffing soon gets heavier, creating a harsh outro to the song.

2nd Track ( I Just Want to Go Home ) - Sludgy bass punches in, droning on a bit, rumbling off through the speakers. The whole band enters again, and the guitar line squeals some feedback, and throws out a couple riffs before we get to some very Melvins-esque drum and bass doom. The vocalist finally makes an appearance, bleating his heart out against the terrifying background music helping solidify the song’s atmosphere. This drones on for a while, before the guitar’s feedback enters again, creating a noisy sound scape ready to defile anyone’s mind.

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Tags: A Small Turn of Human Kindness, doom, Harvey Milk, sludge

Boris

Filed Under: Audio

May.11, 2010

Killer cover, though the vocals don’t do it justice.

Also, I was unaware this album even existed.

-MW

Tags: Agoraphobic Nosebleed, Boris, Bullhead, grunge, Isis, Melvins, sludge, stoner doom

REVIEW: Lair of the Minotaur – Evil Power

Filed Under: Reviews

Apr.18, 2010

Lair of the Minotaur are one of those bands that are out there just to crush balls and provide us with the holy grail of metal, the riff. Yes, that thing a lot of bands seem to be lacking in lately. While a severe lack of ultimate riffage has been (well, not heard at least) scene about metal, Lair of the Minotaur put out a whole albums worth of face bashing, bone crushing sludge guitar and fuzz bass. A constant wall of sound is thrust upon you with the utmost ferocity, and never does it cease. Nothing on this album falls short of pure, over-the-top awesome.

With song titles like “Lets Kill These Motherfuckers” and “Riders of Skullhammer” and an album with a self titled track called “War Metal Battle Master” there’s no way you can take the lyrical themes and names of the band seriously, but damn the songs are good. From start to finish, this album just brings the super metal awesome silly double awesome triple metal that you can just bang your head to and not care. There isn’t a single dull moment here, and neither is there one on their previous releases. In layman’s, this is a purposely shallow album, but no one will ever care because the music is so fucking awesome.