By Gruesome Greg
With all five songs on here hovering between 8-10 minutes long, can we really call this an EP? This Denver-based band follows the Windstein mantra of “Tune Low, Play Slow”—and believe me, these songs aren’t going anywhere fast!
The 10-minute opener “Shark Skull” plods along with some dirty, distorted riffing and vocals that kinda remind me of Buzzo, with a bit of Baroness thrown in for good measure. Still waiting on a time change, but one never comes, though we get a decent doomy riff about halfway through—accompanied by some annoying growls, mind you.
Nine-minute second track “The Scroll” starts off with some ominous reverbed riffing, sounding a little like OM, until a distorted wave comes crashing in, complete with some pissed-off sludge-metal vocals. It then adopts a similar pace to its predecessor. What, you were expecting some grindcore riffage, or something?
“Robot Cities” is half a minute longer than the previous tune, its swirling riffs and laid-back, meditative drawl again giving off faint hints of OM off the bat. This song sorta sucks you in with its hypnotic, oft-repeated riffing. I can dig it…
The last two tunes follow in similar fashion, “D-Day Spell” laying on the death-metal vocals a little thicker, though the riffs still flow like OM or Sleep, maybe a bit more towards the former. “Western Path” pounds away like the rest of ‘em, though without the growls. I dunno man, all the pieces are there, but I’m not really feeling it. These guys don’t bring anything new to the table, that’s for sure…
(Handshake Inc.)
