Author: Gruesome Greg
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Fucked Up – Year of the Dragon
It’s time for a taste of Toronto courtesy of Fucked Up, Canada’s premier progressive hardcore sextet. No, that’s not an oxymoron, but I must admit, it’s pretty fucked up (in a good way). This three-song EP features an 18-minute title track backed by two covers of semi-obscure local 70’s punk-rock bands. Cuz really, what else where you…
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North – Metanoia EP
North is a Tuscon trio that is pretty tight with Godhunter—about the only other Arizona sludge band I know—which is reason enough for me to give this a listen. Yet these guys are grizzled veterans, as the length of their beards would attest, with three albums already under their belts. While Metanoia is more of…
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Lord Mantis – Death Mask
I namedropped the new Lord Mantis record in my Coffinworm review, so I figured I should probably say a few words about it. Oppressive, abrasive, blacked sludge. There. Oh, so you were expecting more than a few words? Opener “Body Choke” sounds like Neurosis set to super-slow-mo, a disturbing dash of death-doom that’ll haunt you in your dreams. The title…
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EyeHateGod – EyeHateGod
Not gonna lie, this was my most-anticipated album of the year. And it’s certainly been a long time coming—the last time we heard from EyeHateGod was the odds-and-ends comp Preaching the End-Time Message waaaaaay back in ’05. They did put out a live DVD a couple years back (fun fact: I missed being in it by a day!), but in…
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Vestal Claret – The Cult of Vestal Claret
Man, it feels like I haven’t heard from Phil Swanson in a while. Unofficially recognized as The Voice of Underground Occult Power Doom, the dude was in, like, 27 bands at one time… or so it seemed. This particular outfit, Vestal Claret, was recently resurrected; they had previously disbanded so Swanson could focus on other bands,…
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The Body/Thou – Released from Love
This is not a split. Rather this EP is a collaborative effort between the voluminous Portland duo The Body and the caustic NOLA sludgesters Thou, with all members of both bands playing on each track. Y’know, kinda like that thing Lion’s Daughter did a little while back…minus the neo-folk leanings, I presume. Side A opens with the…
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Stoneburner – Life Drawing
Stoneburner is yet another act amongst the multitude of sludge bands oozing outta Portland, so expect the inevitable comparisons to YOB and Witch Mountain. Oh, and Neurosis, who signed these guys to their label, Neurot. Did I mention that this album’s 66.5 minutes long? It’s giving off a Neurosian vibe already… It’s not long before…
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Black Tar Prophet – Deafen
Now, when a band names an album Deafen, you can probably expect it to be loud. But this Nashville instro duo, Black Tar Prophet, is a bass-drums outfit, so you don’t get the screeching, feedbacking guitars that lead to tinnitus here. Trust me on that one… Opening track “Dethroned” reminds me of The Body, as the bass is…
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Pilgrim – II: Void Worship
Misery Wizard, the 2012 debut from Pilgrim, the Rhode Island trio, featured the kind of drawn-out, depressing doom that trod the same path as Reverend Bizarre. And while I’m not sure if they’re confessing their love of the bizarre reverend in the album title (RB’s drummer was known as Earl of Void), I’m expecting some…
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Dread Sovereign – All Hell’s Martyrs
This Irish doom trio, Dread Sovereign, contains members of black-metal outfit Primordial, who’ve played a couple doomfests themselves, but I have never seen or heard Primordial before, so that has no bearing on this particular review. I can only assume that their stage names are carried over from their primary outlet, however… cuz stage names don’t…