AT THE GRAVES - SOLAR REVIEW

At The Graves is a Sludge Metal Band from Arnold, MD, USA

The members are

Ben Price - Guitars, Vocals, Drums
Joseph Jacklin - Drums
Andy Schmidt - Bass

AT The Graves play a hard hitting blend of Sludge Metal incorporating Doom and Post Metal vibes into their music that is spellbinding from the word go.

Taking influence from a whole range of top-notch Sludge Metal bands such as Neurosis, ISIS amongst many others. This superbly talented band have been on this blog before when I highlighted their previous two superb EP’s.

Well At The Graves are back with their superb new album – Solar – A 7 song and 46 minute blast of top-notch Sludge Metal carnage to punish the soul to. Solar is At The Graves best work to date. Everything is more epic. The riffs are heavier and so are the vocals as well.

If you’re into pummelling hard hitting Sludge Metal that has a slight Neurosis feel then these guys are for you. At The Graves play epic Sludge Metal riffs that will have you on the edge of your seat. These guys take their time in slowly building up the album’s atmosphere before the loud sounds of a great Sludge/Post-Metal riffs kick in to thrill the senses to.

All of the 7 songs on show are all brilliant examples on how to do Sludge/Post-Metal songs brilliantly. The album is superbly produced and recorded as you can hear every note played superbly.

At The Graves are master musicians and song writers and they prove this time and time again with outstanding riffs and lyrical content to match on this superb.

If there are any musicians who are thinking about starting up a Sludge/Post-Metal band then this album should be used as a template on how to do things properly and how to stand out from the rest of the crowd.

It’s seriously that brilliant of an album. I highly recommend this album as a masterpiece of modern Sludge Metal.

Simply Outstanding. I urge you all to check this album out now. You can buy this album from BandCamp now.

Highly Recommended.

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Make-Trephine-Review

Make hail from Chapel Hill, USA and are a three piece Sludge/Drone/Pysch Metal group featuring .

Scott Endres (guitar, vocals)
Spencer Lee (bass, vocals)
Matt Stevenson (drums)

Trephine is a concept album about a fantasy world a hospitalised man encounters after a psychological breakdown. Inspired tragically in part by the death of Guitarist/singer Scott Endres's close friend, they have created a dark, psychedelic bruising album.

It is very difficult to describe Make's sound , at times a slow paced Deafheaven, a black metal Isis or a really,really pissed off Earth is the closest I can get. Altough there is much more to them than that, best to listen and enjoy for yourself.

I've had "Trephine" for some time, and been able to immerse myself in its world and its brilliance.
Opener "Ancient Tongues" sets the tone, growled vocals ,pulsating bass and some glorious riffs. Its   apparent quickly this is a dense album, although not without a heavy dose of serene pysch/drone inspired moments .

There are times on Trephine when at its most ambient you can lose yourself, carried off on the waves of atmospheric passages. Often though these moments give way to a sledgehammer like awakening as another riff or barrage of sludge filled genius snaps you from any calmness.

"Returning to the Ruins of my Birthplace" opens with a huge riff, leading to a long instrumental passage full of ambient textures and when the vocals come in harsh they're offset with melodic guitar lines. A glorious lumbering song,"And time Came undone" follows, a gentle Earth like intro soon turns to a furious rage while still hooking you with those guitar lines.
"Valhalla" halfway through is an epic track, creating a morphine like euphoria of swirling drums and bass, Scott excels with some sublime guitar work,simply stunning.

It leads directly into "Surrounded By Silent Lies" with an opening riff that Page Hamilton would be proud to call their own. The track highlighting their diversity and ending with an almost choir like vocal.

"Rotting Palace" is a sludge filled ride with trippy vocals and chugging guitars. "Scorched Sky" slows the pace again, before the 12 minute epic "Into The Falling Gray" closes the album. Mixing both their psychedelic edge with the harsh vocals the track constantly shifts engrossing you before fading out to silence, the track returns with a wall of noise/feedback to pull you back into its world like a zombie hand reaching from the grave. It ends on that note full of drone ambience, giving you time to soak in the album . I find myself stepping straight back into "Trephine" and urge you to do the same.

The album is officially released on March 12th , although its available to buy on Bandcamp in various formats and packages where you can also pick up their debut Ep .
Pjsludge.

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WE ARE KNUCKLE DRAGGER - TIT FOR TAT ALBUM REVIEW

We Are Knuckle Dragger are a 3 Piece Experimental Metal/Punk/Hardcore Band from Newcastle Upon Tyne, England.

The members are:

Aran Glover
Pete Currie
Shaun Abbott

Hot off the heels from Nately's Whore's Kid Sister comes another thrilling and brilliant band from my hometown of Newcastle Upon Tyne. (We can only apologise for Sting and Cheryl Cole. But we did unleash VENOM onto the world).

We Are Knuckle Dragger are a brilliant hard-hitting Experimental Metal Band with Hardcore Punk vibes to their great music.

Their press bio should tell you what you need to know.

"WE ARE KNUCKLE DRAGGER emerged from the underground scene with two EP releases recieving wide spread support from Radio 1, Kerrang!, XFM, 6 Music, Scuzz and national press. The ex- Yourcodenameis:milo, Contraband and Scrabo trio played support shows with the DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN in 2011 and released a song on XBOX RockBand3."

Well these guys are getting a fearsome and well deserved reputation from all corners. The guys are going to release their superb debut album - "TIT FOR TAT" on April 2012. The album is a 13 song 30 minute blast of sublime hardcore punk metal driven by a superb Experimental vibe.

Such the guys reputation they managed to get legndary producer Steve Albini to produce this superb album.

And the results are fucking spectacular. Most of the songs are under the 2 minute mark while 3 of them are over 3 minutes. So what you get is a short sharp blast of intense metal that is very hard to ignore.

Songs like "Mr Son Of A Bitch", "Bad Wee Bastard" and "iPhucker" are brilliant blasts of superb experimental metal that feels like your being hit in the face. But We Are Knuckle Dragger make you feel happy they are doing it.

As their music draws you into their wild world of heavy bass driven Experimental Punk/Metal vibes.

These guys are the bastard offspring of Faith No More, Converge and Dillinger Escape Plan rolled into one. So if your into these great intense legendary band then you will be right at home with We Are Knuckle Dragger.

Obviously the production is fucking superb. It's Steve Albini for fucks sake.

It's great to see a band doing something totally different in Metal and We Are Knuckle Dragger are masters at this. This album just fucking rules. Full Stop. If you want short sharp guitar riffs with no prog riff in sight. Well TIT FOR TAT doesn't care for that fancy shit. It just gets down to business of rocking the fuck out.

This is one of the craziest, insane albums I have heard this year. And its the more better for it as well. We Are Knuckle Dragger have delivered a masterclass of top-notch Experimental Punk/Metal music. These guys are going to get bigger and bigger.

They will be supporting along with Animal As Leaders legendary extreme Experimental Metallers - MESHUGGAH on their April 2012 UK Tour.

Well TIT FOR TAT is an album that can make this brilliant band a big-hitter on the world stage. And I hope they pull it off as we all need this band in our lives. TIT FOR TAT is a brilliant album. Period. I hope their future releases are as original and diverse as this superb offering. Superb Stuff.

Highly Recomended!!!! - You can buy this brilliant album here from Sapien Records on April 2nd 2012.

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Boredom- Band to check out

Boredom is a Crust/Slundge Hardcore band from Graz, Austria.

I have only recently discovered this band so I'm not going to go into to much detail but recommend you give these guys a listen.

Boredom play an intense style of crust hardcore with elements of sludge metal, if you like bands like All Pigs Must Die,Trap Them, Black Breath i think you'll love this band, all their releases are free via Bandcamp the most recent of which "World Bores To Death" is a non-stop brutal assault on the senses. Starting of with a glorious sludge metal vibe on "lap dance of rats" the track quickly changes into a fast brutal track.

What makes this Band stand out is there are plenty of elements going on in the songs even though fast and aggressive the quality of the musicianship and attention to detail is impressive.

Reading Boredom's bio , its clear they have strong feelings on society and people in general, their music backs it up ,it seems Boredom hate society and you , they hate you so much they want your ears to bleed and head to explode from listening to their music. For me I loved this thrill-ride through Boredom's world of desolation,anger and I'll be visiting again .

Pjsludge.

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Damascus - Band to Check Out

Damascus are a Instrumental Post-rock/metal band from New Jersey ,Usa featuring the following members.

Brendan Bianowicz - Drums
George Eppinger - Guitar
Gil Morejón - Guitar
Edwin Rivera - Bass

I have been listening to this great band since i discovered their first album "Salutations, Distant Satellite!", last year, I am a big fan of Instrumental music and Damascus are are a worthy addition to any fans of Russian Circle, Pelican,And So I Watch You From Afar etc . They followed "Salutaions" up with a three track EP in October last year, which develops their sound further .

Both releases are free from their Bandcamp site with the option of "name your Price". Currently the band are working on new songs and touring , having released two excellent album/Eps last year it might be hopeful of me to expect another this year but it would be great.

Damascus don't do anything that some other bands do, but its done with such quality and effort to craft the songs that makes them stand out , at times theres a dark menace to the songs similar to Sludgelord favourites "What the Blood Revealed" other tracks display a progressive nature also with an ear for melody.

Both these releases are essential in my opinion for any fan of Instrumental post-rock , and I'm looking forward greatly to any future albums from these guys.
Pjsludge.

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Merdarahta Are Back!!!

Merdarahta is an Ambient/Doom/Drone//Noise Metal Band from Canada.

The members are:

t. das, m. mongeon, l. newton, m. bourgon, m. vilandré, m. das, s. choquette, d. menard

Merdarahta are an amazing Ambient/Doom/Drone/Noise Metal band who I have featured before. I have said this before and I will say it again I am a massive fan of Topon Das. He is one of the best musicians currently working in the underground scene today.

I love his work with FUCK THE FACTS and his production work with bands like Alaskan amongst others,

Well T emailed me about Merdarahta's new album "fault of air / breathe" and asked me to find my opinion. Well as ever T and the gang have not let me down.

"Merdarahta features members of Fuck The Facts and The Sun Through A Telescope come together to create dark and haunting atmospheres, with heavy droning guitars driven through walls of noise. Simple and subdued."

The above description doesn't tell you half the story of this superb album. It's a 4 song 38 minute ride of brilliantly out there collection of Ambient based Drone/Doom Post Rock sounds that will leave you breathless.

Quiet, Earthly, Hollow, Loud, Dense are just some of the words I can describe this great album. 

People have been asking me to post more Drone/Ambient/Doom Bands and I said I would. So Thank The Sludge Heavens for Merdarahta to answer our prayers.

The sounds on this release are simply a joy to listen to. The 16 minute epic "Fault Of Air I" just left me breathless with the vast sounds on show. Superbly put together with a dark atmosphere lurking in the background.

The other 3 songs are just as great. But "Fault Of Air I" one is my fave track on this superb release. Things do get heavy now and again with loud crunching Drone/Doom Rock riffs creeping in.

This isnt an easy album to listen to. But Ambient/Drone Music is not supposed to be. You need this music to build up the atmosphere before luring you into their sacred world.

"Fault Of Air / Breathe" successfully does this from the word go. You actually do feel involved with the superb music on show.

This is another brilliant release from a truly talented and original band. You can download this superb release from BandCamp Pay Anything You Want Type Deal.

If you like what you hear then download their debut release "snake charmer / towers" and see how this great band first started.

I can't wait to see what these guys do next. They will open your mind and make you think to what your listening to. Amazing Stuff and Highly Recommended!!!

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WITCHSTONE

WitchStone is a Sludge/Stoner/Doom Metal Band from Calgary, Canada

WitchStone play a great hybrid of heavy pounding Sludge, Stoner and Doom Metal to brilliant effect. They have just released their superb S/T EP. A 4 song blast of top notch riffage which is on for an impressive 25 mins or so.

The 25 minutes just flies by and has superb riffs all the way though with added great vocals as well. The EP is superbly put together and its has a very loud atmosphere to it as well. Sometimes the music starts off slowly before the heavy pounding riff fully kicks in especially on a couple of the tracks.

This is a band that is influenced by a lot of the top bands from the respective genres but they stand as their own band as they blend their genres superbly. They add a cool 70’s hard rocking Doom Metal attitude amongst the modern Stoner/Sludge Metal riffs.

If your into Kyuss, Sleep, Black Sabbath then your going to really dig this. It’s an awesome wild ride with another great Sludge/Stoner Metal band to keep an eye.

A great album that I recommend any serious Sludge/Stoner Metal fan to check out right now. Its another superb album to add to your record collection. Brilliant Stuff.

You can download this superb release for free from BandCamp right now and I urge you all to do this now.

Highly Recommended:

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Check out the awesome track "Cataclysmic Oblivion" from their superb S/T EP.