Katla : "Scandinavian Pain"

The grit and the grime of this band have more in common with sludge than doom. There is a hint of black metal, but they are of the same venomous ilk as say Fistula. Not expecting this sort of thing to crawl out of Denmark but here we are. Their overdriven lumber is a great deal of fun. They have a nasty attitude which is where a lot of their charm comes from. The album opens with a self-help piece before busting into the song proper with a bust of grindcore called" Eating Grapes With Kevin Sharp, which is more of an interlude than a song., The vocals are more of a blackened howl. The bassist who provides this tortured shriek is new to the band. Shit is heavy as hell but they still care about songs and keep things moving in their headbanging throbbing. 

"Taurus" finds them oddly blending black metal with what they do after a weird transition from the ambiance, but then they turn around and crush it with the heaviest riff yet. Some raw gritty guitar tones are coated in odd effects at times. It brings to the table a more interesting sound than if they just plugged in and banged this out. "Ha-nub-Ku" is a story being told over clean guitar playing as an interlude. "White Knife" is a more ear-ravaging display of black metalish riffing. "Grim Jesus" embraces their true sludge sleeves as they cry out they are worthless. 

The last song "Castle of Purity"  moves with a weight throb. This builds into a more hypnotic sonic chant taking sludge into some places it did know it wanted to go, though parallels could be drawn to early Neurosis at times. This record gets weirder than you expect it to, and they experiment more than you would think some crusty sludge dudes would I will give this album a 9.5, as it occupies a unique place, and see how it grows on me. It drops March 21 on Napalm Records. 

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