Guiltless : "Teeth to Sky"

This band's EP earned an 8.5, as it sounded almost too much like Neurosis. I love Neurosis, but I also own all those albums already. Featuring members of Intronaut and A Storm of Light, they are established sludge veterans. The challenge here is going to be able to do something aside from paying tribute to Neurosis. Those elements are present, but the guitars are doing more to add a layer of atmosphere that shows you more of who they are. The throaty howl of the vocals might be the most limiting element of what they are doing. Even Neurosis uses varied vocal approaches. By the second song, this is starting to cast a more uniform haze over the songs. It is a little heavier and crunching, but that is not enough of a dynamic shift to maintain for the album.

Some people will become enamored by the heavy guitar tone they captured here. They write angular riffs that are weighty. But a song is a story and every story needs to go somewhere. "Our Serpent in Circle" finds the vocals shift. It is a bellow, that comes closer to singing. The song itself slows to a doomier pace. This works better, while there is more brooding in the title track, the atmosphere does put things in a more Neurosis-like place. "Lone Blue Vale' trudges down a similar dark path as the previous songs with the painful howl of the vocals. 

The drummer remains impressive on this album, but they need to get away from this guitar tone for the sake of writing songs is it takes things back to the same place all too often. The last song has a chance to break from what they have been doing though it is almost too little too late. There is a little more ebb and flow and almost has an industrial feel, though plods along with a purpose more like doom. I will give this one an 8.5, as well, so they perform at a very consistent level and it sounds less like Neurosis than the previous album but churns with a predictable fury.Ironically released on Neurot Recordings, so it's Neurosis approved.  

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Guitless : "Thorns"

 A new band formed by A Storm of Light and Intronaut members is bound to meet expectations for sludge fans. The lumbering stomp that opens this EP only confirms this, The vocals are a throaty bellow. The drumming is very deliberate. guitarist Josh Graham handled the visuals for Neurosis, so there is no surprise their influence weighs heavy on this. They have certainly keyed in a specific sound for what they do, which is somewhere between "Souls at Zero' and "Through Silver and Blood". There is a dark menacing stomp to "All We Destroy" which features some stellar drumming, that keeps this song in motion.  While dialing in a certain sound, they are still writing songs, not just riding the sonic choices they have picked here. The second song has more ebb and flow even if they use atmospheric noise to create this space. 

There is a more brooding feel to "Dead Eye' which gets more room to breathe, allowing the vocals to be more purposeful than just an obligatory roar. More credit goes to their drummer for making smart choices, and not overplaying, but also not just holding the beat. The rumble of the bass is impressive. This album is really well produced, and you get the feeling they captured things they intended here. With sludge, you want this big apocalyptic sound and they certainly knocked that off the charts. 

There is a lingering creepiness that leads into the last song. The drumming wastes no time to get it moving and never allows this album to get dragged into a drone. bark out his last wishes. His vocals have more form and function here as they  One of the main problems is this is just an ep rather than a full album which they might have had more room to experiment and bring new colors of sound to the table, instead of being so devoted to the sludge color by numbers unravelled here. The final minutes find an interesting dissolution into a dark ambiance. I will give this album an 8.5, as it sounds great and they do well with what they have created here. but it resembles Neurosis so much, which can not be by mistake since one of the guys was in Neurosis. But perhaps you are not as familiar with Neurosis and in that case it will be a surprise for your. 

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