By Gruesome Greg
This band hails from San Fran, though you’d never know it from listening to their record, as Brainoil leaks muddy, dirty, southern-style sludge, sorta like Weedeater or early Zoroaster. I suppose that some of these riffs could be traced back to the leading Bay Area Sabbath worshippers, Sleep, but the overall tone is harsher, and the vocals sound like Dixie Dave with a head cold, or (insert black metal singer here).
That said, this is a decent small slice of doom, seven tunes barely breaking the 25-minute mark. After a coupla slower songs start things off, “Opaque Reflections” has a sped-up section that could be filed under “blackened death metal” while “Feet Cling to the Rotting Soil” settles into a mid-pace groove like a deathier High on Fire. Blistering time changes mark “To Bury the Pages of Existence,” though “The Beauty of Death” ends things on a slow note.
All in all, this is a solid sludge album (EP?) best suited to those who lean a little more towards the death metal side of things.
(20 Buck Spin)
RATING: 7
