Showing posts with label Lo!. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lo!. Show all posts

Saturday, 4 July 2015

The Sludgelord Sour 16 for June 2015

Welcome to The Sludgelord’s Sour 16. Each month, you the reader are unwittingly compiling a list of the top 16 records of the month, covering all genres of metal, but predominately the best the doom, sludge, stoner-psychedelic genres have to offer.
Is it chart? Not really.  It is merely the 16 records you guys have been most interested in over the last month and you have been checking out on this very page.

So here is the The Sludgelord Sour 16 for June 2015, the 16 records you’re most looking forward too or are currently checking out.  Check em out, spread the word and perhaps revisit some records you may have overlooked.  

The results are compiled based on page views alone and calibrated into the list below. So without further ado, this is the Sour 16. So until next month, roll up, kick back, chug a beer and Hail the riff! All review links, are held under the artwork.   



16).      GodSleep – ‘Thousand Sons of Sleep’ (249)

“Thousand Sons of Sleep” is a deep and complex record with a lot to offer.’




15).      Oxen – ‘The Vanishing’ (260)

‘The Vanishing’ demands your full attention as it's one of the years most exciting and thrilling debut albums you're likely to come across.’





14).      Nightslug – ‘Loathe’ (262)

‘It’s a hellacious racket from moment one, but it’s also exceedingly catchy and memorable.’





13).      OHHMS – ‘Cold’ EP (265)

‘Cold is a brilliant record and stands out as a potential Album/EP of the year.’





12).      Sons of Huns – ‘While Sleep Stay Awake’ (281)

‘Sons of Huns set themselves apart from the competition by taking influences from the past but making their music sound current and vital instead of a lifeless recreation.’





11).      Connoisseur – ‘Stone Violence’ (277)

‘Imagine if you will, Hatebreed if they were pissed off about a bad weed supply’





10).      Grusom – ‘Grusom’ (290)

This is a very cohesive debut




09).      Lo! – ‘The Tongueless’ EP (294)

‘At once both heavy and sparse, dense and expansive, they are a hardcore paradox that make music that is a true experience.’




08).      Church – ‘Unanswered Hymns’ (296)

’With a very solid debut elegantly combining all the main elements of a great doom record, Church truly might already have themselves one of the genre’s opera magna.’





07).      Death Alley – ‘Black Magick Boogieland’ (297)

‘There are riffs the size of continents flying by; the vocals take full advantage of their role, and the band gels, jams, and jives.’





06).      Ommadon – ‘Empathy for the Wicked’ (309)

‘If being bombarded with sludgy evil riffs is your thing...or getting absolutely pulverized and driven into the pavement by colossal thundering drums until your body collapses, this release is perfect for you.’




05).      Goatsnake – ‘Black Age Blues’ (313)

‘There can be no doubt that this record will feature on many end of year lists and deservedly so.’




04).      Rosetta – ‘Quintessential Ephemera (321)

‘The whole album is expansive and ethereal in its delivery and production’





03).      Lightsabres – ‘Beheaded’ (332)

‘Beheaded is a full-throttle, kick-ass Stoner Rock record’






02).      Sacri Monti – ‘Sacri Monti’ (396)

‘This album is an exciting psychedelic ride from start to finish’




01).      High on Fire – ‘Luminiferous (589)

‘This album is so fucking good, if you do not get it, you are a dum dum’




Wednesday, 17 June 2015

Lo! - 'The Tongueless' EP (Review)


Album Type: EP
Date Released: 13/2/2015
Label: Pelagic Records

‘The Tongueless’ EP CD//DD//LP track listing:

1). No Contrition
2). Orca
3). Litmus Beings
4). Megafauna

Review:

So here I return to it. 

And what better way to return to writing – my first true love – than to be gifted such a peach of a hardcore EP.  These fine Australian men have thrown out ‘The Tongueless’ EP in a similar way that soldiers throw grenades: far, wide, and with the intent to cause a great deal of mayhem.  Sound good?  You’re damn right it does. 

Released on Pelagic Records (Robin Staps of The Ocean’s label), this EP not only sounds good but, if you get a physical copy of the double 7” coloured vinyls, it looks good too.  Aesthetically pleasing, it demands the limelight of your turntable.  Released way back in February of this year, it is still a frontrunner for 2015’s top 5 releases… and it’s only four songs long!  Ladies and gentlemen, when their next full-length appears on the horizon like a warlord atop a midnight steed: join its ranks and get ready for the battle charge of your life. 

Let’s talk songs.  Personally speaking, I can hear a fair bit of The Ocean’s influence on these guys: tight riffage, Sam Dillon’s monolith tones, crazy drumbeats, this is The Ocean with an added shot of whiskey and rage.  Just take a listen to “Orca”, the ferocity and grace of a killer whale on the hunt, with some insidious time changes and a great part where it’s just drums, bass and vocals… the priming of the jaws, which snap upon your body as Carl Whitbread slams down his distorted guitar fury.  Its wild, its raw nature at its most unforgiving. 

The other tracks are no less deserving of mention: as it’s an EP, every song has to find the mark and, on ‘The Tongueles’s, Lo! have certainly made that their mission statement.  There’s a wonderful Converge feel to this release: when “No Contrition” kicks off proceedings, waves of “Precipice / All We Love We Leave Behind” wash over you, instilling this extra wellspring of enjoyment as you proceed to listen through this EP.  “Litmus Beings” is just wild, a rampaging demon of vicious hooks that dig deep into your flesh.  As for “Megafauna”… well, it is a minimal, spacious, field of emotion, raw and exposed like a nerve which, when touched, lets loose with a howl of drums and distortion. 

Lo! are definitely a band to look out for.  At once both heavy and sparse, dense and expansive, they are a hardcore paradox that make music that is a true experience.  ‘The Tongueless’ is an EP well worth any hardcore fan’s time, and rewards each listen with fresh sounds you didn’t catch the previous time.  Find your own tongue and tell your friend about this right now. 

Words by: Chris Markwell

‘The Tongueless’ is available here

For more information: