Womb - Devotion To The Sea (2017)

WOMB - They were born out of the murky waters of Seville, Spain in order to deliver a ghastly form of death/doom that will cast countless souls into a pit of despair. They first struck two years ago with their debut album "Deception Through Your Lies", which roared with a slow, sophisticated melancholy that took many to the grave. Now they've released "Devotion To The Sea", a bleak maelstrom that crashes on the listener with waves grief. It's got an atmosphere like a thick fog that completely surrounds you and leaves you feeling trapped under the weight of this gloom. Guitars sing out tragically in somber tones while the vocals are a deep, howling death that grip you tightly and pull you into to a watery tomb. The album is touched with the occasional gentle melody that lures you into a false sense of security before tearing off the mask and exposing some gruesome agony beneath. There are moments where I feel as though I've just seen someone suddenly rip the flesh off their own chest to reveal their ribcage and still-beating heart. It's grim beyond measure, but at the same time there's a beauty in all the sorrow that leaves you transfixed and unable to escape. In the end, it's left me feeling absolutely miserable, but it's so good can't stop listening to it! -Brandon
 

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Tides of Sulfur- Extinction Curse

This release came out over a year ago, but I'm glad I stumbled upon because this is exactly the shit I'm into. Tides of Sulfur are definitely a Sludge/Doom band at its core, but they also have elements from other extreme metal sub genres like death/black metal, but also punk roots as well with some grind and crust peppered in. These guys have a filthy and nasty sound that is layered with copious amounts of detuned chugging, plenty of double kick and blasts from the drums, and a searing savage attack from the vocals. Each song comes at you like a biblical plague and engulfs you with locusts as they swarm your body. Hell-bent on destruction these dudes like a well-oiled machine bulldoze through every song letting the brick and mortar collapse and fall, creating heavy slabs of rubble and debris. This is where the heavy riffs lie. Within the crunch and the crumble, from being trampled upon. The overall atmosphere of this album is dark as fuck. Even the quieter moments on here are ominous and foreboding. The sludgy parts are definitely sludgy. No fuzz here, just straight sewage grooves here that ooze thick as tar consistency. The songs definitely got me hooked in as the riffs were pretty memorable and catchy as fuck. Overall I really dug this, and I'm glad I came across it. It really fits in with the other shit we've been reviewing lately in the sludge sub-genre, so hopefully you'll dig this as well. Cheers! -Samir

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Dragon Sunday - Tales to Terrorize (2017)

Step right up! Behold! Appearing before you seemingly out of nowhere is Dragon Sunday, extollers of stories both chilling and strange with their debut release "Tales to Terrorize". This one is loaded with horror-themed doom metal for those unafraid of the dark. Songs cover topics including Freddy Kruger, Jason Voorhees, Cthulu, and more, but be warned! This is not a quiet, creeping horror slinking along in the dead of night, but instead a loud and booming creature ready to step out in the open and show you all the things you have to fear. The band draws inspiration from traditional and epic doom to deliver a forceful sound that's been lightly drizzled with synth in order to draw out an eerie atmosphere. There is an overpowering melancholy to this album that will drag you down and leave you aching with woe - perfect for breaking down your defenses to let all of the terror crawl in. So sit back and let your sense of dread overtake you as the sound seeps in and blasts visions of horror in your head. -Brandon
 

Wardehns - S/T EP (2017)

If Matt Pike had a bunch of younger brothers who were all crust punks and decided to form a band, that band would probably be Wardhens. With a mix of blackened sludge and dbeat fury, these heshians from the Midwest sound like the result of High on Fire and Asbestos Deth being mashed together, and it's fucking awesome. Pissed off, and filthy sounding with broken bottles in hand, these dudes are most definitely headed to the riff filled land, but the smoke they're following is probably due to a flaming car or a dumpster fire. The music conjures a sort of chaotic imagery for me that fuses urban decay landscapes with moltov cocktails. Ravaged, wartorn, and explosive, Wardehns delivers two fiery tracks for a short, but definitely memorable EP. I'm going to end this review by saying the guitar solo on "Shards of The Time Glass" totally fucking rips. Like really really good. Anyway, check out this wonderful EP. It fucking rules! - Samir

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Shadowmaster - S/T (2017)

Three years ago, a massive crack split the earth just outside the city of Sundsvall, Sweden. From this fissure, a vile miasma poured forth and out crawled three wretched beasts. The trio formed a band called Desert Crone and recorded a filthy three track demo of sludgy stoner-doom (as subterranean creatures are known to do). Fast-forward to today and the monsters have renamed their band Shadowmaster and put out a self-titled full length album featuring the same vein of nasty sludged-up doom that they debuted several years ago. This shit is gritty like sandpaper that will wear down your soul - you didn't need that anyway, right? It's super distorted and hard-hitting with sharp tones to cut you deep so you can feel this at your core. There's a ton riffage and pounding rhythms that slam into you over and over again. The album ends with "Under His Black Skies", a nearly 20 minute song that builds up at a glacier's pace before making you dizzy with a series of far-wandering guitar leads that descend into noise. However, make no mistake: Shadowmaster is seeking to daze you with otherworldly music and drag you back to the foul hole that they crawled out of... But you should probably just let them do it. It's a really cool place.-Brandon

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SHC - S/T (2017)

Most of the time psychedelic doom is a slow exploration of sound, with trippy guitar solos over colossal riffs, ambient space noise, and bottomless pits of reverb. SHC's self-titled album is happy to give you some of that heavy psyched-out goodness, but then when they're done with that they're kicking shit into overdrive. Typically, these songs start slow, building up delicious, vibrant riffs, but then devolve into a frenzied mess of unhinged guitar leads backed by punk rock fury. It's a bright, chaotic burst of wicked sound that will draw you into an beautiful sea of disorder, all without abandoning the malevolent doom at its core. There's very little in the way of vocals, but the pieces you do hear are black metal styled rasp floating around zoned out. I just can't get enough of the way this hazy doom spins out of control. It's like there's just too much destructive energy built up for the sound to stay stable, so it just implodes on itself over and over again. I can't think of anything else that combines slow, depraved doom and fast, hectic intensity so well - highly recommended! -Brandon

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Hell- S/T (2017)

Emerging from the doom laden landscapes of the Pacific Northwest comes the band Hell, who's music seems pretty fitting to the band's moniker. Hell (not to be confused with the NWOBHM band) plays some dank ass filthy Sludge/Doom with hints of reefer madness thrown here and there. Right off the bat you'll notice Hell's big fat sound. The strings come together to form this monstrous tone that sounds like it came from the rotten bowels of Godzilla. The band moves like a monster too, as it heftily meanders through murky swamps and dilapidated surroundings. By band, I also mean just one dude, since the music was all done by one man (MSW according to the bandcamp page). The dude's vocals are shrill and grating as fuck, which adds to the nastiness of the sound. At times it almost seems like he's caught in some kind of storm, or even like a locust swarm, and his agonizing cries become almost faint but just as ghastly and haunting. Of course not everything on here is just for the follower of the low and the slow. Especially when it comes to the drums. Granted the drums do end up playing your typical stoner doom beats, but there are the moments like when the drums start doing blast beats or starts doing straight double kicks throughout an entire riff that really set this apart from the rest. The end of the album also ends eliminating the distortion and going for a more clean yet somber sound, that kind of gives you a moment to take a breather, collect your thoughts, and think "What the fuck did I just listen to? That fucking ruled!". When you die and go to hell, hopefully the red man downstairs is blasting this shit while smoking a big fat doobie. I really liked it that's for sure! -Samir

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