This New Zealand band is a grimy sludge monster that begs for drugs in the sewers. It is the most logical conclusion you can draw from the choked rasp of the vocals. The title track that opens their debut album carries a decent groove to it, that feels swampy for New Zealand. Drugs are the major theme of this album. With samples of Ozzy's interview from The Decline of the Western Civilization part two being sampled for the burly stomp of the opening track. "Ket Witch" is an ode to ketamine, with the atmosphere creating a dissociative mood that emulates the drug's effectiveness.
Not what you might expect after the first song, as it carries a more post-rock texture. This kind of spaced-out playing allows you to hear the nuance their guitars are capable of summoning when called to do so. This also provides the needed calm before the storm to lull you into a false sense of security that makes the bang of heaviness carry more weight when it crashes down on your ears. They lash back out in a more pummelling fashion with a renewed nastiness to the mean-spirited "Wretched". They slow to more of a doomish lumber, but there are varied tempos and dynamics involved as well. I was surprised by how melodic and tasteful the guitar solo was, but you can chalk that up to Iommi's influence.
The spewed vocals are something I have gotten used to by this point in the album. In many ways, these guys occupy a similar sonic space as Fistula. The last song is the 21-minute "Lord of the Hanged". At the five-minute mark, they wander off into a jam, I appreciate this, but why not split this song up into four songs since it's the length of four songs. The vocals can not be understood, so it's not like it is going to disrupt the lyrical narrative. There are several points when they allow the feedback to ring out that should have marked the end of the song. The guitar solos are great and embody what I like about great playing, but do they need to sprawl on for the length of what could have been another song. They could stand to stream line some things and the vocals are an acquired taste at times, but I will give this album a 9.
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