Lares : "Towards Nothingness"

This German sludge band weaves surreal atmosphere around there sound that owes more to say Isis than Neurosis. The riffs pummell you from behind their smoke screen. The fuzzed out down is one of the clear indicators of what keeps them on the more post apocalyptic side of things rather than the melancholy that would color this if they were doom. There are a few ambient interludes, one comes right after the opening track. The secon actual song is more uptempo. Things continue to swirl around the drums while the bass and guitar sound like they are driving things. The songs work off of a thundering throb, but aside from the throaty roar of the vocals feeling like a obligatory layer on the first two songs they do care about taking you on a sonic journey. Yes it is heavy, but they do not fully forsake all melodic ambitions in order to crush you.

The third song finds things getting much more melodic. Not at say a Pink Floyd level, but it backs off into more of a Kylesa like thing. The vocals are not as varied as what Kylesa brought to the table once they commited to get trippy. Their song writing here has gone up a notch, making this the most memorable moment so far. The song build into a heavier climax, which is not surprising. :Ggray Haze" finds them using  sung vocals. They are not the focal point and sit pretty far back in the . It is not Jeff Buckley shit but chanted moans meaning they are making an effort.

There is a Ministy like pound to "Catacomb Eyes" . By Minsitry I do not mean they are pulling out the samplers , but have the stomp much like songs on "Filth Pig" possessed.  The vocals take on a nastier rasp here , but it is not that dramatic of a shift I like what they are doing . They are like a cool death metal band in the sense that it is fun to give a listen to but eventually the lack of dynamic vocals wears thin for me. But that is how I feel by the time I get to the last song. This means the music was enough to distract me from this fact. For what they are doing they are excelling at it so I will round this one up to 9, if you like sludge it is a must.