By Gruesome Greg
My head starts nodding from the very first notes of opening track “Fangs”. This is how sludge metal is supposed to sound. Building on a slow, winding riff, T-Roy’s whiskey-soaked screams recall Weedeater’s Dixie Dave and Mikey Williams, and while less aggressive than an Eyehategod, this stuff is equally punishing. The feedback and punishing bass breakdown of “Night Eyes” wouldn’t sound outta place on Dopesick, if you ask me…
“Gasp” picks up the pace a bit, a bitter piece of blackened crust that poses a potential choking hazard. “Holy Transfusion” drops an unholy bass solo into the middle of a slow, lugubrious howler of a tune. But there isn’t a whole lotta variation to be found here, just a solid forty-five minutes of sinister sludge metal.
These guys have been doing this so long that they don’t need to mess with the formula. Black Fang is like a mean Carolina moonshine—consume at your own risk!
(Candlelight USA)
