This band from the Netherlands brings plenty of sonic anguish on their debut album. The first song carries a gut-pounding throb that snarls with a more wretched sludge feel. They show their more melodic side on the third track with a melodic guitar opening the over 12-minute track as the vocals drop down to more of a mid-range rasp. They recapture the tortured intensity of the first song with a slower, more deliberate build, which tells me they are interested in dynamics and actually writing songs rather than just attacking my eardrums. You can almsot make out the lyrics on this one. It builds into a more furious black metal mood.
Then things drop way down with "This Mortal Coil," which simmers before kicking into a proper song. But when it does, there is a great deal of intention set in the powerful punches that ring out. The drums create more of a groove here, but the guitar allows atmosphere to build more organically. The vocals scowl with a great deal of venom, but I do not judge a sound by vocals alone.
The album closer "As, Long as I Breathe, I am to Suffer" comes to life with a more doom-tinged lumber. Sludge is in the Doom family, so this makes sense. In fact, I have always thought of it as what happens when punks try to play doom. I think punk is in the family tree of black metal, so that makes sense as well. Blackened sludge would be a fair description if we were going to fit these guys into a sub-genre. Things break down to a rumble of a bass line. They build it up from there with the screamed vocal going even further into throat-shredding agony. I will give this album a 9, as I enjoyed the mood they created and writhes with their emotions in a manner I can believe.
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