The Sludgelord Sour 16 for September 2015

Welcome, all lovers of the riff, you know the deal by now, however for those of you that do not, let us recap.  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 not a chart, in which reviewers or contributors extol their opinion about their favourite music, but simply, the ‘Sour 16’ are the records you guys (readers) have been most interested in over the last month and checking out on this page.

So here is the The Sludgelord’s ‘Sour 16’ for September 2015, the 16 records you’re most looking forward too or are currently checking out.  Dig in, 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, enjoy the ‘Sour 16’. Roll up, kick back, chug a beer and Hail the riff! For more info click on the artwork. (Total views at the time of publication highlighted in red)

16). Slayer – ‘Repentless’ (271)

Overall, I would be confident in hailing this the best Slayer album for some time. It is certainly better than “World Painted Blood” and, for all its fury, “Christ Illusion” had no real staying power for me. It is not perfect by any means, and is perhaps a couple of tracks too long, but all in all, this is SLAYER. No sell out, no compromise, no change. Business, in fact, as usual.

14) = Wild Throne – ‘Harvest of Darkness’ (281)

Alongside the ingenuities and provocative pieces from ‘Blood Maker’ ‘I Of The Prism’ is another scintillating highlight. It’s brazen guitar work and searing vocal lines force a real sense of horripilation upon you, you don’t so much as listen to this as you do experience it. It’s structure is a labyrinth of crazed punk drumming, a really atmospheric but menacing ,reverb drenched instrumentation and enough melody to blind a unicorn.

14) =Fvnerals - ‘The Path’ (281)

There are not a lot of bands that are easily comparable to FVNERALS, as they effortlessly draw together various elements of such sounds as if Swans and My Bloody Valentine had a sleek, crooning child in an underground speakeasy.

13). Hangman’s Chair – ‘This is not supposed to be positive’ (292)

A record as powerful and as potent as this, cannot be ignored. An absolutely sterling effort, it stirs something within you like no other music can.

12). Venom Prison – ‘The Primal Chaos’ EP (295)

This is a nasty little EP from the South Wales mob- “Babylon The Whore” showing you what they are all about in its three and a bit minutes. Noise, blasts, grooves, feral production- it's all here.  This is a fine EP and if you have any interest in death, grind, hardcore, crust or any mixing of any of those sub-genres... you should hear this.

11). Iron Maiden – ‘The Book of Souls’ (316)

If you approach The Book of Souls with an open mind and accept the more bombastic moments, you will find a huge amount to enjoy. By my count, there are at least eight top notch tracks here. There may well be more, it is just that this is a genuine double album and has such scope and depth that it is hard to become familiar with it (perhaps concentrate on one disc or one slab of wax at a time?!). Eight out of eleven tracks rated as top grade is a fantastic tally. Still the Kings. Long may they reign.

10). Cult of Occult – ‘Five Degrees of Insanity’ (325)

An ominous amp hum builds before erupting into the gut churning opening riff of “Alcoholic”. What follows is a 15 minute onslaught of bleak sludge, harrowing vocals and an evil guitar tone Bongripper would be proud of. Cult of Occult employ repetition to great effect, playing each riff until breaking point before moving to the next.

9). Luna Sol – ‘Blood Moon’ (326)

Luna Sol has the material – the riffs, the attitude, and the songs – to be able to stand on their own two feet.  if you’re looking for some burly, tough, guitar driven, American rock music with inviting choruses and a strong sense of melody, then go ahead and slip this disc in your car’s CD player and go for a long drive.

8). Motorhead - ‘Bad Magic’ (353)

If this is to be the last album, then the band have added to their legacy, kept their powder dry once again and gone out all guns blazing. If it isn't, well the next one will be along in a couple of years and will no doubt give your ears a good hiding when it does. Still the best rock and roll band in the world, and as the man says, the last one you can trust until the end.

7). Hate Eternal – ‘Infernus’ (360)

There aren't many bands out there that can punish your ears with such consummate brutality, which is what Hate Eternal succeeds at doing from start to finish on this disc. Highlights? 'TheChosen Ones' has bewilderingly epic bass guitar work which is fully audible beneath the atonal guitar-mashings of main man Erik Rutan.

6). Sweat Lodge - ‘Talismana’ (371)

With such mean songwriting skills as is on display here it’s rather difficult to pick favourites. ’Talismana’ definitely brings stand-out tracks but the band with their strong sense of vision and penchant for killer riffs and catchy hooks all coated with stirring vocal melodies manages to blend it all into one cohesive whole. This is one superb debut from this Texan group and definitely one of this year’s not to be missed out on.

5). Snail – ‘Feral’ (440)

As far as tone and mood are concerned, “Feral” is far from untamed. To the touch, these eight cuts are smooth, the production doing what it needs to do to keep this beast domesticated. At the end of the day, though, this beast is hard to ignore, which is the justification for the album’s name.

4). Indian Handcrafts - ‘Creeps’ (444)

The consistency of the record is well, well above par too. Every song has its own unique character and sense of self. They never repeat the same formula or trick – they simply don’t need to rely on any form of cyclical cop out – and no track is starved of quality alongside the rest of the pack.

3). Belzebong – ‘Green Inferno’ (717)

‘Inhale in Hell’ honestly is just one massive slow chug fest, filling every available space with some ridiculous throbbing string torture with a sweet backing beat. It sounds akin to a giant walking the earth, simply moving things aside without noticing. True evil blues this band has summoned, and you the listener, shall reap their rewards! From that slow, massive chugging into feedback and staccato wah picking, they have no problems slamming you up against the wall and rifling through your pockets for some loose cash.

2). Uncle Acid and The Deadbeats – ‘The Night Creeper’ (1192)

“Horror films don't create fear. They release it,” – Wes Craven (1939-2015)

1). With The Dead – ‘With The Dead’ (1254)

It's evident that Bagshaw has acquired a few new fuzz pedals since the last Serpentine Path album as opening track 'Crown Of Burning Stars' is so oppressive, fuzzy and dense that it made my teeth itch. After the backwards speaking samples, the crunch of the guitar is incredible. The vocals are classic Dorrian and the bands sound on a whole is somewhere between Serpentine Path, 'Dopethrone' era Electric Wizard, early Cathedral and 'Misanthropic Alchemy' era Ramesses.  This for me is an album of the year contender, the kind of thing you'd expect from 3 of the scene's most influential figures. All expectation has been lived up to. Prepare to be blown away.

This list features reviews by, Chris Bull, Philip Weller, Hunter Young, Richard Maw, James Taylor, Victor Van Ommen, Charlie Butler, James Harris & Joosep Nilk

Wild Throne - 'Harvest of Darkness’ (Album Review)

By: Phil Weller

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 02/10/2015

Label: Roadrunner Records

Alongside the ingenuities and provocative pieces from ‘Blood Maker’ ‘I Of The Prism’ is another scintillating highlight. It’s brazen guitar work and searing vocal lines force a real sense of horripilation upon you, you don’t so much as listen to this as you do experience it. It’s structure is a labyrinth of crazed punk drumming, a really atmospheric but menacing ,reverb drenched instrumentation and enough melody to blind a unicorn.

‘Harvest of Darkness’ CD//DD track listing:

01 – “Harvest Of Darkness”
02 – “Shadow Deserts”
03 – “Fear Yourself”
04 – “Lone Lust”
05 – “Death Of A Star”
06 – “Blood Maker”
07 – “I Of The Prism”
08 – “War Is A Romance”
09 – “Born To Die”
10 – “The Wrecking Ball Unchained”
11 – “Trans”

The Review:

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. A road worn guitar, paint stripped and scratched, cocaine pocked in the rusted Seymour Duncan humbuckers, is placed into its casket and lowered into the ground. Tears fall too, slaves to gravity that congregate on the earth like a pack of wolves. Rock is dead.  Gene Simmons has spoken; a man who has drained every conceivable penny out of his ‘brand’ and is the embodiment of the genre’s industrialisation.

Adding fuel to the fire too – or should that be cremation? – is Germanic powerhouse and Rammstein vocalist Till Lindemann. He states that he wouldn’t start a band in this contemporary climate, where bands are given little chance to reach the upper echelons of an ever aging and shrinking group of festival headliners and elite bands – his band being one of these Stonemasons.  In that sense then, the fairy tale happenings of Bellingham, Washington three piece Wild Throne shouldn’t exist, it should be exactly that – a fairy tale, an augmented take on reality where everything is hunky dory. There is no room for ascension when the royal court is a dilapidating mess, brought to ruin by the industrialisation of an art form once full of expression, passion and, ultimately, success through global notoriety and financial gain.

Yet, 16 months after releasing their three track debut EP, ‘Blood Maker’, a collection of dastardly pompous, outrageous but ultimately thrill seeking rock n’ roll, they’ve signed a deal with Roadrunner Records and are on the verge of releasing one of the best debut long players in years. They came, one of the biggest and most prolific labels and creators of champions and now they are poised to conquer. And fuck it, I’m gonna buy the t-shirt. They have my money. Wild Throne are everything messers Simmons and Lindemann said were paucity. Or perhaps they’re the last of a dying breed. Regardless, this is their moment to savour. 

To that effect, ‘Harvest of Darkness’ stands tall, proud and defiant, belying a transfixing modernity and artistic determination for their compositions to be like a skyline on Guy Fawkes Night: Full of explosions, bursts of light and vibrant colour and boasting a pure, illuminated majesty that is so wonderfully juxtaposed by the blackness it calls its canvas. The whole record flows reverently, it’s current gripping your ankles no matter how hard you may try to fight it. There’s a beating heartbeat which you can feel and hear throughout. Where there are changes in tempo, where passages are jagged and threatening or sweetly serene still that pulsating heartbeat sounds. The album is alive.

In many ways this album is the future. I mean, our elder statesmen are right really, bands don’t clamber up the league tables like they used to. It took Avenged Sevenfold 15 years of hard slog to be honoured with a headline slot at Donnington for instance – 14 for Slipknot – and even then there were the naysayers who questioned their stature and ability to handle such a task. But times are changing too. These days, albums and the bands that create them are single standing entities; there are few real movements that generate the momentum to make a collective cultural impact like the flower power movement of the 60s or the thrash invasion of the 1980s.  But it’s weird how, in a time where we seem to find offense in everything and anything, music never manages to truly shock us anymore, to never really inspire that emotive surge where we the people join together and make a band heroes. It’s all been done before as far as revolution and button pushing is concerned – the closet we’ve come to that in recent times is arguably dubstep. So yes, perhaps the true forcefulness of rock n’ roll is dead, we can’t spark anything overtly sensational through crunching guitars and well penned lyrics anymore but we can still appreciate a good album when it regurgitates down your lug’oles and ‘Harvest of Darkness’ is one of the best. You’ll struggle to hear a more rounded and exquisitely executed release this year.  Considering that this is a debut full length release that achievement only becomes more remarkable.

Alongside the ingenuities and provocative pieces from ‘Blood Maker’ which are included again on this release – and deservedly so, let the music do the talking with those – ‘I Of The Prism’ is another scintillating highlight. It’s brazen guitar work and searing vocal lines force a real sense of horripilation upon you, you don’t so much as listen to this as you do experience it. Its structure is a labyrinth of crazed punk drumming, a really atmospheric but menacing, reverb drenched instrumentation and enough melody to blind a unicorn. The maze then leads you straight to the heart of the emphatic, anthemic lead single ‘War Is A Romance’.

Across the track’s frenetic, as-chaotic-as-a-bouncy-ball-launched-into-a-tiny-rubber-lined-room length, you pass through so many dimensions, musical references, gorgeous, spine-tingling nuances and insatiable fury. It stops you dead in your tracks. From the Motörhead styled, foot-to-the-accelerator openings, to Mastodon like pummelling’s later on down the line, betwixt solos that twist and scream like one of Jack the Ripper’s vulnerable and squeamish victims, it’s a song that has more than affirmed my already well established love for this band. Their oeuvre is simply devastating. 

The bastard love child The Mars Volta, Glassjaw, Coheed & Cambria and Muse, while undertones of punk rock angst and power, it’s easy to see their standpoint from an ideological stance. Piecing the intricacies and nuances together however is a much trickier affair, but this is a release which basks in the bafflement it causes. Soaring choruses and vocal work – with many lyrical themes touching upon the human condition, its strengths and its weaknesses, its failings and its beauty – are the icing on the cake however. They give the bigger picture a much sweeter and addictive coating. ‘Lone Lust’ is delicate meanwhile. Quieter mostly, more experimental with the dynamic depth and diversity at their disposal, you cans see themselves pushing their creative aesthetic, feeling where the boundaries to their strengths and capabilities lie. There is, I must add, enough room to swing a tiger within those confines. 

It all ends with ‘Trans,’ a barrage of spasmodic rhythms, Josh Holland going hell for leather on his whammy pedal with it all coming across so vulgar and messy but in the best possible way. Their sound is huge, thanks in part to all that reverb, and there is a real depth to it which swallows you like a whale shark will to whichever poor creatures just so happen to cross its path at the wrong time.  So lay your flowers on the turf and wipe your cheek one last time. Hell, say a few sorrowful words if you have to. Rock is dead and this is its funeral. Question is; why does it sound so damn good?

‘Harvest of Darkness’ is available here

FFO: The Mars Volta, Glassjaw, Coheed & Cambria and Muse

Band info: official | facebook

The Sludgelord's Sour 16 for April 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. I have been promising to do this since the beginning of the year and in essence you can call it what you wish, 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.

Our idea for this thing was to turn the power over to you guys, yes it would be easy for us to choose our favourite records of the months, however it is you the reader, the fans that support these bands, buy their records and attend their shows.  So here is the inarguable Sour 16, 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). Wild Throne – ‘War Is A Romance’ (299 views)

Read the review

15). Ghold – ‘Of Ruin’ (301 views)

Read the review

14). Iced Out – ‘Man’s Ruin’ (304 views)

Read the review

13). Abrahma – ‘Reflections in the Bowels of the Bird’ (305 views)

Read the review

12). Domovoyd – ‘Domovoyd’ (314 views)

Read the review

11). Holy Serpent – ‘Holy Serpent’ (315 views)

Read the review

10). Fister – ‘VI’ (322 views)

Read the review

9). Deep Sea Thunder Beast – ‘So Goes The Madness’ (336 views)

Read the review

8). War Iron – ‘Precession of the Equinoxes’ (361 views)

Read the review

7). Drudkh – ‘A Furrow Cut Short’ (381 views)

Read the review

6). Acid King – ‘Middle of Nowhere, Center of Everywhere’  (383 views)

Read the review

5). Weedpecker – ‘II’ (385 views)

Read the review

4). Red Mountains – ‘Sun’ (475 views)

Read the review

3). The Atomic Bitchwax – ‘Gravitron’ (618 views)

Read the review

2). Stonebirds – ‘Into The Fog...And The Filty Air’ (649 views)

Read the review

1). Faith No More – ‘Sol InVictus’ (985 views)

Read the review

Wild Throne - 'War Is A Romance (Single Review)



Review:

Just over a year has passed since I was left gushing over Washington trio Wild Throne’s stunning and bombastic ‘Blood Maker EP’ here at The Sludgelord. This website is, quite rightly, inundated with some gloriously good music, crossing a multitude of styles and showing just how rude and healthly the scene is currently in. It’s inspiring to see. There are literally thousands of bands vying for our attention week in, week out, so it has to take something special to catch our imagination – and more importantly here, mine specifically. But Wild Throne’s ‘Blood Maker EP’ did exactly that. Now the troupe have returned, fresh from penning a deal with Roadrunner Records – a mean and well deserved fete in itself – with a blistering new single, ‘War Is Romance.’

Across the tracks frenetic, as-chaotic-as-a-bouncy-ball-launched-into-a-tiny-rubber-lined-room length, you pass through so many dimensions, musical references, gorgeous, spine-tingling nuances and insatiable fury. It stops you dead in your tracks. From the Motörhead styled, foot-to-the-accelerator openings, to Mastodon like pummelling’s later on down the line, betwixt solos that twist and scream like one of Jack the Ripper’s vulnerable and squeamish victims, it’s a song that has more than affirmed my already well established love for this band.

Previously known as Dog Shredder, the new song, the first monster to rear its ugly head from their forthcoming album ‘Heart of Darkness,’ gives you a snapshot of what this band is. It’s all over the place – flirting with the sounds of the aforementioned artists alongside the likes of Converge, Mars Volta, Muse and the Dillinger Escape Plan – yet at the same time, it couldn’t be more fluent. It picks you up and shuttles you through an intimidating sonic space time continuum that, quite literally, takes your breath away.

At times, frontman Josh Holland’s vocal replicate that of Matt Bellamy’s schizophrenic and maniacal octave jumps – only if Matt had had an ounce of cocaine burst in his stomach, causing him to thrash about the place in a full-blooded adrenaline craze.

“Humans tend to seek out both love and war instinctively,” Holland has stated on the topic of War Is Romance’s lyrical theme. “Rather than thinking of them as opposites, I wanted to suggest that the intensities of violence and passion actually share more similarities than differences. That the hunger to fight is some sort of inner romance. We lust for it.”

‘Harvest of Darkness’ is released August 18th via Roadrunner Records. If this lead track is anything to go by, it promises to be a record to kick a boot up the arse of their already dizzying ascent.

Words: Phil Weller

For more information:

https://www.facebook.com/wildthrone | https://wildthrone.bandcamp.com/

https://twitter.com/wildthrone

Wild Throne - Blood Maker EP (Review)

Album Type : EP

Date Released : 4/3/2014

Label : Brutal Panda Records

Blood Maker, track listing :

1). The Wrecking Ball Unchained

2). Shadow Deserts

3). Blood Maker

Bio :

Bellingham, WA progressive rock/metal trio WILD THRONE (formerly known as Dog Shredder) emerge with their debut EP, Blood Maker, under their new moniker.  A mind bending amalgamation of progressive rock, metal, jazzy syncopations and swirling melodies, Blood Maker was recorded with legendary producer Ross Robinson (At The Drive In, Machine Head, The Cure) in Venice Beach, CA.  Fresh off a US Tour with Red Fang and Helms Alee, WILD THRONE are only just beginning their quest for eccentric rock greatness.

The Band is: Joshua Holland | Guitar, Vocals
Noah Burns | Drums
Jeff Johnson | Bass

Review :

Resonating the kind of anarchic beauty you’d expect Mastodon to create while enduring a bad acid trip, with a heightened focus on psychedelic aesthetics, Wild Throne have absolutely nailed it with Blood Maker. Put simply, you won’t hear many other debut releases as accomplished, well-rounded and as stunningly executed as this in 2014.

Wisely changing their name from Dog Shredder, the kind of moniker destined to make the RSPCA shit their proverbial pants, their new, less offensive name takes steps towards encapsulating the unfettered mayhem of this record.

From the soft, graceful beginnings of Wrecking Ball Unchained, one of the most ferocious and feral songs of the year so far, it provides the lulling calm before the throbbing, apocalyptic storm that follows. Riff after riff, it takes a sledgehammer to yourself, all the while peppering each track with moments of dynamically quiet and lucid landscapes and lofty choruses.

The fury of Shadow Deserts leaves your mouth agape in a matter of milliseconds. They say that actions speak louder than words, and the faces it leaves stunned listeners pulling, says far more than any superlative-laced review could.

Its bridge riff is a stunning example of what this band are capable of, taking a ravishing, raging riff before bastardising its time signature, adding the crunch when you least expect it. It's followed by crying, fuzzy-enough-to-have-its-own-beard lead guitar work before a whirling, spaced out grooves a-la Hawkwind with their foot on the accelerator and a mesmerising solo takes the foray.

Once more, while you are pummelled with the most insane, mind-bending riffs that transcend a multitude of time signatures and metallic, psychedelic and progressive styles, melodic passages, where Joshua Holland’s vocals soar are never far away. The effect is devastating.    

Ross Robinson's (At The Drive In, Machine Head, The Cure) production allows the vast array of intricacies buried within this album to breathe without hindering the brutality of the music. Their resulting sound is huge and impossible to ignore, but trust me, you wouldn’t want to.

Its length, at only 3 tracks, you would think, would leave you craving a little more. Yet, as the silence that follows juxtaposes their sonic storm, you are left entirely satisfied, if not a little out of breath. Wild Throne deserves a massive future.

Words: Phil Weller

You can buy it here

For more information :

Wild Throne Official Site

Wild Throne on Bandcamp

Wild Throne on Facebook
Brutal Panda Records on Bandcamp