Irreversible: " S/t"

Even though these are guys are from my current city of residence I am not going any easier on them than I would any other band.The Atlanta sludge band has been around for  a decade now so they have time to hone their sound. Like most Atlanta metal bands they started off with more punk roots and later morphed into something more metallic until now they share a similar landscape to their sound as Isis. After a wash of atmospheric sounds the almost math rock of "Undertow" lurches into motion. This album is very well produced for an independent release. The first vocals to surface are some monotone Jesu like cleans. Even at over four minutes "Language of Paralysis' is more of a atmospheric meandering interlude than an actual song. "Absent Help" is the next song to stomp into the picture. It showcases the smart melodic nature of their guitar playing. The drummer is not a slouch either.Some of the more chuggy moments, barrow from the pillars of the genre all the bands like Isis that engaged in Neurosis worship in the early 2000s. Some times the tightness even creates a Tool like feel.

 There is ominous power to the industrial barbs that give a wink to Godflesh on "Mandatory Death". You can hear traces of their hard core past in the shouted vocals.The riff doesn't benefit from repetition in the same way Ministry is able to capitalize on. The bass player steps further up front on this song. I admire the sounds they achieve on these interludes like "Armistice" they serve more a bridges from song to song. The band's use of samples is more creative than the bulk of their peers. "Fade" comes out of this interlude with more power because of the dynamic shift, and these songs are more effective when taking in this album as one work, but how many times do we inject music this way over the course of an average day making it more important for songs to have legs of their own. The vocals on "Fade" are some of the album's best.This is one of the few local bands that makes me want to leave the couch with this album and go check them out, fans of sludge and post-rock should not miss this one, I am going to round it up to a 9 and see how it grows on me.


 


 3.5/4