By: Conor O’Dea
Album Type: Full
Length
Date Released: 10/01/2020
Label: Brilliant
Emperor Records
“II” DD//LP track listing
1).
Infernal Devourment
2).
The Resin Tomb
3).
The Chaos Ov Iron Oppression
4).
Mind Ov Maggots
5).
Encapsulated Apocalypse
6).
Impending Abysmal Wretchedness
The Review:
If
you had advised me that I was going to begin 2020 and my long overdue and
prodigal return to the annals of SLUDGELORD
by writing a review of a blackened death band named after a Pokemon,
I would have suggested that you were either a liar or a troll. If you had
further insisted that said band was named after the infamous Snorlax, whose most
feared abilities include its preponderance for sleep and eating while
sleeping, I would have pronounced you mad. But here we both are,
considering a thoroughly savage work of metal under the aegis of a pocket
monster "docile enough to let children and small Pokémon bounce on
its large stomach." Moving on...
This
debut full-length album is exclusively the labour and talent of Brendan Auld,
who also plays rhythm guitar in the excellent blackened grind band Siberian Hell Sounds.
Six tracks are featured on this album, a runtime of 23:10. And let me tell you,
not a whisper, breath or riff is wasted. The entry wound, “Infernal Devourment”,
raggedly saws into a indefatigable chainsawing of unrestrained but subtly
complex riff changes. There is a clever fusion here of some second-wave
melodicism with both the grimness of some current Danedeath and a restrained
application of classic buzzsawing. This careful alchemy of materials is carried
forth best in “The Chaos Ov Iron Oppression” - cavernous with
threatening edges of dissonance, it nevertheless works itself around melodic
motifs that ground the track with unerring structural confidence. “Mind Ov
Maggots” almost swings Finnish-black in the sweep of its tenebrous
harmonies and the warm undertones that sound like Hephaestic fires
glowing in the mantle of the earth. The final minute of this track comes
together with incredible weight and primal force.
“Encapsulated
Apocalypse” features a chugging, sludgy bridge that flows
seamlessly into the marching and dirgeilke funerality of “Impending Abysmal
Wretchedness”. Performances here on all fronts are excellent, but the
vocals are worthy of particular note: swinging from chasmic depths to near
shrieks, they create a terrific and terrifying ambience throughout the album. It is hard to believe that this album is
under 24 minutes in length. This has nothing to do with feeling like it outstays
its welcome; quite the opposite in fact. What Brendan Auld accomplishes
in that short time is nothing short of massive - the album feels huge,
like the looming shadow of some primordial titan. Or possibly a 460 kg Pokemon.
Either way, this album is accomplished, polished without a trace of
overproduction, and as heavy as an event horizon. Get it.
“II”
is available HERE
