By: Aaron Pickford
Album Type:
Split
7inch Series
Date Released:
19/03/2012
Label:
Hell
Comes Home
Hey,
fellow sludge heads. What we have here for your delight is something for
all of you vinyl junkies! Our friends at Hell Comes Home Records have produced one of the best
vinyl box sets ever, no doubt about it. This is something very
special indeed and it gives me great pleasure to share it with you.
What
is on offer, is a must have for all you fans of sludge doom metal.
What is it, you ask? The box set features new and exclusive material from
the following acts: Akaname
• Black Sun • Burning Love • Coffinworm • Dead Elephant • Dephosphorus •
Dopefight • Dukatalon • Fight Amp • Fistula • The Fucking Wrath • Great Falls •
Kowloon Walled City • Lesbian's Fungal Abyss • Pyramido • Rabbits • Rites •
Suma • The Swan King • Tellusian • Thou • Throat • Ultraphallus • Union Of Sleep
The
boxset includes
- 12x split
7'' vinyls (the vinyl is black and the sleeves are 3 pantones print
on uncoated paper)
- A t-shirt
- Digital
download coupons (320 kbps MP3's)
Each
one of the 7" vinyl is a split release with two artists providing one
exclusive track each. The vinyl also includes exclusive artwork from Kuba Sukolski. Check out the package here.
In
order to give you a flavour of each vinyl, I will be posting reviews of
all the tracks by all the individual bands. So let’s kick things off
with a review of the first 7" release in the series which
features, Kowloon Walled City and Thou.
This 'July' themed split features two exclusive cover
versions of tracks originally performed by Low and Soundgarden. I have heard it on good authority Kowloon Walled City is one of the sludgelord's favourite
bands of recent times. Hell Yeah!
‘Kowloon Walled City/Thou Split’ 7inch track listing:
Kowloon Walled City
A.
July
(Low, from the album 'Things we lost in fire')
Thou
B. 4th Of July (Soundgarden, from the album 'Superunknown')
Kowloon Walled City is:
Ian
Miller | Bass
Jeff
Fagundes | Drums
Jason
Pace | Guitar
Scott
Evans | Vocal. Guitar
Lisa
Papineau | Vocals on this track
Thou is:
Bryan
Funck | Vocals
Andy
Gibbs | Guitars
Matthew
Thudium | Guitars
Josh
Nee | Drums
Mitchell
Wells | Bass
The Review:
I
freely admit that I wasn't aware of the band Low prior
to this release; therefore I had no preconceptions of what the track would be
like. Employing the vocal talents of Lisa Papineau for this track,
it has a very haunting quality to it, with the sludge heavy guitar sitting
beautifully with the tortured but graceful vocal delivery of the aforementioned
vocalist. The trademark Kowloon sound is there,
however they have reined it in a little, to give a subtle and dynamic
delivery. The guitars sound enormous when they are unleashed, bass heavy
and thick. The bass and drums also sound fat and dense, giving the
song an edgy and unsettling feel to it. I was blown away by the
track and the band have produced something very special
indeed. The musicianship is first class, production is sublime
and vocals are fantastic. The song is first class.
Before
I start, I have say that I was/am a massive Soundgarden
fan and '4th Of July' was one of the
heaviest tracks they ever released, so it kind of figures that Thou got their dirty little paws on this track.
Wow! Wow! Wow! This cover version is awesome, the guitars sound like
they're tuned down to 'G' and they are incredible. I'm talking Conan heavy. It is noticeable from the start
that the vocals are a mixture of clean and screamed, but sang in
synchronicity. The clean delivery is breathtaking, sounding like the
awesome Daxx Riggs formerly of Acid Bath and
eerily similar to Chris Cornell's original; the harshness of the screams
adding a demented and unpleasant quality to the track. Honestly, the
track needs to be heard to be believed. In terms of the music, it is
virtually note perfect and due to the low tuning of the original track, it
is as if Thou were meant to cover this track. Thou have taken the original song and delivered a
track that is as close to the original as possible, yet they have put their own
unpleasantly coarse stamp upon it. This cover version is one of abhorrent
beauty.
‘Kowloon
Walled City/Thou Split’ is available here
Info: Label Home
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| KWC Official
| KWC FB | Bandcamp | Thou Official
