Thank gods the Brits are keeping sludge going. They are doing some interesting things with it. The deliberate pace the shoe-gazing fuzz rides on is pretty impressive. I appreciate what they are doing sonically and the willingness to put some balls behind the vocals where most shoe-gazing bands just whisper in a hushed coo. However, the throb of the first two songs runs together, which is often the mark of a band that is keen on capturing a sound rather than writing songs. "Corpsing" finds the vocals emoting in a more post-hardcore manner. The vocal lines are tighter. An almost Pink Floyd-like ambiance hovers in the background.
The production of this album is interesting, how things like vocals are placed in the mix is always changing depending on the effect they are going for. This means there was a great deal of thought put into this which I can appreciate. They are also very experimental in how these captured sounds are woven into songs. "Mulletproof" is more ambient with the vocals sitting in the back of the mix, as drums linger and the vocals shift to more of a hard-core scream. They punch into the song with more aggression than expected and this side of the band comes out of nowhere. It's a bold move that I never saw coming and it takes a lot to surprise me.
Before they threw themselves into the more sludged-out explosion, "Spit Beach" was beginning to remind me of Atlanta's Dead Register. I like the way they go from loud to soft on this song, as the dynamics work well and invoke 90s metal in a big way. The command vocal line of "New Dead Elvis" carried is powerful, and works well against the more hard-core pulse the song grooves into. "Jefferson Areoplane Over the Sea" feels like a mix of the Cure and Depeche Mode. It's moody and soaring. Their song titles are pretty hilarious, as "Office Job Simulator" carries this streak, The vocals are more bold and soaring, as the instruments trudge with hope before kicking into the more sludge-like chorus.
"Space Tourist" is a 24-minute song, and I am not sure why anyone needs a song that long, after all the entire "Reign in Blood " album is 28 minutes. I start off like a ballad before crashing into sludge core two and a half minutes in, leaving you to ask how is this going on for another twenty-one minutes. The answer at first is to slow the sludge down before it spaces out into ambiance. This ambiance drones on for 19 minutes. Why waste anyone's time? Overall they have some solid songs, that take changes, been digging up a lot of sludge bands over the past week and these guys are doing something unique. I will give this album a 9 as they care about the songs, and try new things melodically.
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