Back in the day, I used to be AF Analog’s biggest fan. The short-lived local sludge band was never a household name outside their own households, but in ’07/’08, they were the closest thing to Crowbar around this neck of the woods. Now a couple of those guys are in this new outfit, Warsnake, which slithers along similar lines. I’ve heard demos of most of these songs before, but am still looking forward to the finished product—which you can totally download for free!
Warsnake comes crawling out of the gate with “This is War,” a slow Sabbathian start building up to a more mid-paced chug, with a couple Windsteiny breakdowns thrown in for good measure. “Low Life” starts off with a killer NOLA-style sludge riff, this one dealing in the same brand of low ‘n slow reefer madness as their previous outfit. “Second Hand Words” picks up the pace again, a frantic, two-minute march with a profane chorus. But “Organia” slows things back down; a wah-heavy, unholy roller.
They tend to switch gears quite a bit, displaying more of their hardcore roots by pushing the tempo to just shy of punk-rock fury on brief bursts such as “Lock the Gates” and “Spinning Wheels,” but sludge is a dish best served slow—and tunes like “Low Life” and the equally punishing “Night Sky” are near-perfect examples. Not sure if this is more than just a studio project at this point, but I could go for another helping.
