Dragger : "Taken Form"

If you took a hardcore band and gave them a sludge band's production, then this is what it would sound like. The guitar tone is blown-out, dense sludge of fuzzed-out meaness. They are plenty angry and have a bit of thrash in their aggressive attack. On the first song, the one lead guitar is the only element that feels out of place, and that is because it sits too forward and too cleanly in the mix; it is an overdub that was not managed into the present wall of sound, or the guitar tone itself needed to be tweaked to blend it."In the Mire " is the band working of a more deliberate chug and none of the over dubbed guitar is there to distract me from it. It also feels like an extension of the previous, so there is not a great deal of overall dynamic range to what they do so far. 

"Potent Sea" finds them building more memory as the barked vocals fall into the background. The husky vocal delivery on this one sounds more like something a sludge band would do, as it has that lumberjack feel. Though all of this lies in the pacing and the phrashing as it becomes more punk on "Martyr Tombs". Though even in this song they allow themselves to evolve and blend genres.  There are moments where this also reminds me of early Mastodon, with plenty of powerful chugs to back up this theory. The drumming is not as frantic as Brann's. They fall back into the more uptempo take on sludge with " Cautionary Tale". The guitars are doing most of the heavy lifting to compensate for the vocals. 

There is more form and function to "Everything is Rot". The vocals are just another layer here as the guitars tell the tale. Everything does fall into place in a very compact manner that gets the point across. I will give this album an 8.5; they are certainly heavy enough to please most. If you are looking for a more punk-minded sludge band, then this should do it for you.

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Lair of the Minotaur : " I Hail I"

These bruisers are back with more hardcore grit to their attack. The vocals come across as being less growled and more of a burly command. The grooves are as dense as you might want them. There is almost a sludge weight. The aggression is not a full-speed-ahead charge but a massive grind of distraction chugged with malicious intent.  Things are more melodic on "Enthroned in Violence," which brings the Melvins to mind a little. "Fucked Inside Out" finds the brutality moving more smoothly than expected. 

Sure, "Deepest Hell" moves in a rapid-fire, punishing manner that reminds me more of their older work; the growth they showed me on the first four songs spoiled me and raised my expectations."Saturnus Reigns" is more hammering but slowed down enough to take it all in. It continues to groove like a sludged-out version of hardcore. 

"Prowler Twin Sister"  chugs with headbanging authority, but things continue to move in the same direction. The vocals are more barked in some places.  I knew they were going to do a cover of Ethel Cain's "Family Tree."  The original is more of an atmospheric intro that she does sing over, and the lyrics are pretty muh the only thing that is the same. Not sure where the inspiration for that riff even came from. 'Vulture Worship' sounds cool, but is more of an interlude. Things slow down to a more ominous sludge mood on the last song. I will give this one a 9 and see how it grows on me it is a excellent return to form, while still showing growth andd heavy as all hell. 

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Swamp Coffin : "Drowning Glory"

It is interesting how the egregore of the region affects the sound of any given genre. This band from England approaches sludge with almost hard-core-like aggression as they stomp into the riffs, which is a great deal different from how the Southern-fired sludge of America, takes a more bong-broiled attitude towards it. Sludge is really what happens when punks try to play Doom. This theory is further nuanced when considering the differences between when it's tackled by crust punks vs hard-core kids who grew out of the scene. The hard-core leanings are more noticed when the pace picks up on this second song, which is sludge in guitar tone only. Even then there are a few riffs with more of a lumbering groove. 

There is a shadow of melody haunting the oppressive gloom of the title track. It has as much in common with Entombed's "Wolverine Blues" album as it does Neurosis. The more dynamic approach to songwriting here makes it one of the album's best songs so far. The guitar solo also leans it in a more metal direction. The vocals carry more inner turmoil than just straight-up anger in their throat-wrenching snarls. There is enough drive to the chug of "Hypocritical Mass" to show they mean business. On the other hand, the fuzzed-out squeal of guitars is more deliberate than not. 

"Chapter & Hearse" hits hard, before gaining more atmospheric depth with a sample the band simmers under.  "Terminally Cursed" carries more of hard-core's crushing sports. It delivers a great deal of blunt force trauma with the overt hammering to your ears.  They shift into a mega-heavy breakdown that is a very effective use of dropping into halftime on the drummer's part.  The coarse vocals find rhyme and reason on this album often locking into purposeful chants.  The last song finds the riff taking on more of a technical grind, not unlike what Weston Super Maim did on their most recent album.  The chant this time is about nobody fucking saving you, which I am on board for. I will give this album a 9, there has not been a ton of sludge coming my way these days so glad to have been sent this, it's numbered among the top sludge releases I have heard so far, though November is the doom month here where we also dig into sludge so who knows what it shall bring. 

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Sect : "Plagues Upon Plagues"

 This band is comprised of who's who of post-millennial  Hard-core. At the mic former Cursed vocalist Chris Colohan, who is giving an impassioned performance, with a husky croon that winks in the direction of Neurosis. His approach gives the dark tension of the music, more depth and makes more of an impact when it does get time to scream and kick the riffs in.  Those riffs are driven by former Earth Crisis guitarist Scott Crouse. Andy Hurley from Fall Out Boy / Racetraitor beating the drums. Hurley shows restraint and keeps things at a more sludged-out pace rather than pouring on the punk mania.  The heft of the guitars is bolstered by Jimmy Change from Undying and bassist Steve Hart. The first song that finds things aggressively accelerated is 'Drowning in Sorrows" which is three songs into things. 

Their chemistry as a unit grants them the ability to shift from heavy grooves to more patrol rock wanderings with some great interplay of guitars along the way. "#foreverhome" is a scathing commentary on today's society, and I am surprised more bands are not fed up with the world around them like these guys are. While their press release seems to angle them in a more left-leaning direction, which is not surprising for punk rock, when you give the songs an actual listen things are not that black and white, as the bleak nature of things touching all in the western world seems to be what they are raging against here. As someone who is "apolitical", I can appreciate this as it never seems I am being preached the gospel of either side. 

"The Lovers of Life" works off the same stormy tension that has been driving this album. "Inventory" goes straight for the throat. They rein the song in to give the mood room to breathe. The last song is a more sludge-influenced take on a hard-core dirge. I like that it is as sonically heavy as it is metal-heavy. You can call this a metallic hardcore album if that definition includes something as dark and dense as this album. I will give this album a 9.5, as it's the kind of brooding shadowy hardcore I prefer. This comes out June 7th on Southern Lord, which makes sense for both the band and the label that they should be paired. 

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Black Tusk : "the Way Forward"

 On their new album, Black Tusk bridges the gap between hard-core and sludge. The 2016 album "Pillars of Ash" was the only album I have paid attention to by them and this was due to the fact I knew Cory from Kylesa was playing on it and I am a huge Kylesa fan. I liked that album though it felt more like fuzzed-out aggressive punk than metal. The vocal approach still owes more to punk. However, there are more metallic smarts to the songwriting that rather than unloading a flurry of drunken punches, places them more effectively and the guitar is more melodic here as well. There is more of a burly drive forward on "Brushfire" that punk in more of a GG Allin manner. I like the vocal trade-off that allows for more colors, though both are pretty in your face.

There is more of a galloping metal groove to "Harness". The vocals bring more of a chaotic punk scream this time. One thing I like about this album is that it seems they picked up a touch of the darker underpinnings of crust from their time spent with Cory. "Lessons Through Deception" feels like the jammed-out extension of the previous song. There is a more reckless rock feel than what I would call sludge. They have more in common with AC/DC on "Breath of Life or "Lift Yourself'"  than Neurosis. Motorhead is another sonic point of reference and the blown-out bass tone winks in Lemmy's direction.  When they let their punk side out on the loose, the songwriting tends to default to the conventions of that genre., It does not resonate with me much on "Against the Undertow".

"Ocean of Obsidian" is more of an atmospheric interlude than a song, which is a shame as it would have been more interesting to have heard those sounds woven into the fabric of what they do. "Flee From Dawn" is a slapper for those who miss the band Mastodon was before they went prog. The last song gets the job done in a manner that straddles the punk and metal fence. I will give this album a 9, which places it above "Pillars of Ash" as it takes that sound and fine-tunes it in favor of songwriting. This does not sacrifice much in the way of aggression for the sake of long-time fans.This album drops April 26th on Season of Mist .  

 

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