By Gruesome Greg
Before I took the shrink wrap off of this album, I knew that it was gonna be downtuned, dark and sludgy doom. Was it the name of the band? The name of the record? The dark tree-lined swap on the cover—or the man hanging from the noose on the inside? I’ll hafta go with all of the above. Village of Dead Roads are well versed in the sludge of Crowbar and EHG, along with “post-sludge” bands like Neurosis, while mixing elements of death doom and the atmospheric black metal stuff that’s all the rage these days. Not your typical MeteorCity release, that’s for sure…
“Chemical Restraint” has a slow, evil-sounding riff that wouldn’t sound outta place on a kvlt black metal record. “Giving The Snake Its Venom” counters by slowing things down with a Windsteinish riff that oozes fucking sorrow! (Jamey Jasta? Fugeddaboutit!) “Halo Becomes a Noose” opens with military snare and distorted bass, followed by clean guitar riffing. This song is more atmospheric than sludgy, unless you count the leather-lunged vocals…
If you like things slow and sludgy, this is a pretty good listen. It’s not earth-shattering, but it could shatter your eardrums.
(MeteorCity)
RATING: 7.5
