Morrow : "Covenant of Teeth"

Here is a sludge band that manages to capture almost as mournful of an atmosphere as a doom band. They are being called a crust super group, due to the past affiliations of the members and crust seems to be a hot buzz word when it comes to underground metal these days. The only time I hear them being crusty is when it speeds up with more punk energy toward the end of the first song. They take there time getting started as it's 4 minutes in before the drums lay the ground work to the melancholy. The cello on this song really adds more emotion to this song. The crust roots of this band rage to life once again when "the Norr" steam rolls over you with it's ravaging pound. This band benefits from slowing down out of the punk charge and bathe in the darker melodies they weave sonic tapestries from.

 The vocals are varied thanks to the endless stream of guest vocals this album is brimming over with, as it features appearances from Natalie of Wildspeaker, Oskar and Erik of Monachus, Lee of The Nepalese Temple Ball, Dean of Knifedoutofexistence,Joe of Masakari and Anna from Archivist.< Generally they are low throaty roar. The guitar is just as capable with the clean indie rock jangle as it is driving the point home with the heavy distorted crunch. "Forgiving Grin" is darker than the previous song, but eventually finds itself storming off into more punk fueled angry that is a place this album goes to throw most of it's temper tantrums.It is in the last minute of "Forgiving Grin" that the song converges to it's most powerful point.

 Things ebb down to a more introspective tone for the intro to "Cleaved Fang". The guitar takes a solemn strum against the backdrop of weeping cello, before the rest of the band kicks with their lurching sludge. Midway into the song it breaks down to shine the spotlight on the vocals. The song ebbs well and has lots of room to breathe. I'll give this album an 8.5. It doesn't rank higher because it can be a little weighted down, often feeling like a good movie that just happens to drag a little in places and could have gotten more love from the editor. The album feels really good with it's introspective shadows and I enjoyed my time spent with it.