ALBUM REVIEW: The Visceral Madness Condition, "The Visceral Madness Condition"

By: Peter Morsellino 

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 07/12/2019

Label: Independent

“The Visceral Madness Condition” DD track listing:

1). Do Not Enter

2). Dead Man’s Soup

3). I’m Afraid of You

4). Tales From The Sewers

5). Wooden Brain

6). The Mat

7). Poor King

8). Cut

The Review: 

In only their second release since 2018's “Love Me Kill Me Hate Me Kiss Me” single, The Visceral Madness Condition offer up an eclectic mix.  With sludgy riffs, stoner grooves, high theatricality, and an overall abundance of weird, this may be the most unique album you here in quite a while. 

One of the main features that comes off immediately is the voice of vocalist Dirty Dave. Highly expressive and demanding of attention, Dave inserts in these songs a theatrical vibe that is almost reminiscent of Marilyn Manson or King Diamond.  Other times, he barks with a perfect hardcore ferocity and moans like the demons of hell, even conjuring up a pretty close Ozzy wail.  This wide range of vocal stylings lend themselves to a unique listening experience.  

Musically, the album features heavily Sabbath inspired riffing and downtrodden beats mixed seamlessly with speedy hardcore passages. They could be easily compared to GWAR with their refusal to be placed into a single box musically, rather serving the weirdness of these songs by any means necessary. From the creepy and brooding to the pounding rhythms of yesteryear's fist pumping rockers. 

“Do Not Enter” is a focal point of the album, with the almost ten minute timespan fully showcasing what the band can do.  With a haunting atmosphere and spoken word piece leading into a seventies inspired guitar driven dirge before exploding into pure stoner rock madness. The end of this track will have you headbanging for sure. 

While the high strangeness of the group might turn off casual listeners, the breadth of its creativity will certainly reel in those who will become hardcore fans for years to come.  From doom anthems to sludgy grind mashers to stoner groove fests, there seems to be no end to what this group will throw at you.  We certainly have not heard the last from Dirty Dave and company.  We can only hope we won't be waiting too long for the follow up.

“The Visceral Madness Condition” is available HERE

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

TRACK PREMIERE: Italian heavyweights Formalist leave you strung out with the crushing "Mainlined"

FORMALIST was founded in 2014 when long-time associated individuals from the Italian heavyweights FORGOTTEN TOMB [vocals], MALASANGRE [bass & drums] and VISCERA/// [guitars] joined forces with the aim to open new gates to total sonic horrors. Excelling in the art of low-tuned sickness, the band members managed to forge together their many influences and proceeded to write and record the first full-length album during summer 2016, featuring 3 songs for a nightmarish 40 minutes length where extreme Doom, Black Metal, Sludge and Ambient/Drone combined with a completely hostile, nihilistic approach to vocals and lyrics.

The album entitled "No One Will Shine Anymore" will finally be released on the 16^th March and with the band soon hitting the road with selected stage appearances, today THE SLUDGELORD has an exclusive first play of the track “Mainlined”, this is one most certainly for all sludge/doom/depressive fanatics.  Preorders are being taken at the following links Wooaaargh: Toten Schwan: 3rdirex

Band info: facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: Demonomancy, "Poisoned Atonement"

 By: Ernesto Aguilar

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 23/02/2018

Label: Invictus Productions

"Stylistically, "Poisoned Atonement" is a ferocious comeback. Many bands serving up a caustic, grimy brand of metal have risen up in the last few years. Demonomancy can certainly lay claim to being one of the innovators. The group provides some of the more explosive and consistent metal tracks so far this year."

"Poisoned Atonement" CD//DD track listing

1. Intro - Revelation 21.8

2. Fiery Herald Unbound (The Victorious Predator)

3. Archaic Remnants of the Numinous

4. The Day of the Lord

5. Poisoned Atonement (Purged in Molten Gold)

6. The Last Hymn to Eschaton

7. Fathomless Region of Total Eclipse

8. Nefarious Spawn of Methodical Chaos

The Review:

Fire up "Archaic Remnants of the Numinous" and it becomes quite clear that primitive/black metal trio Demonomancy have been putting in work for quite awhile, more than decade to be exact. There is simply a proficiency and brutality that you get from band members who have been playing together awhile that new performers just do not give you. Across its latest album, "Poisoned Atonement," the group provides some of the more explosive and consistent metal tracks so far this year.

What makes "Poisoned Atonement" such a solid return is the overall songwriting as well as the density of these compositions. Demonomancy always strikes a sinister energy -- it did on 2013's "Throne of Demonic Proselytism" and the band has over its career. When it released what was effectively the preview song, "Archaic Remnants of the Numinous," last year, it seemed like the group was going for an even more gritty, guttural approach; the sound is harsher and more distorted, and sparks memories of original black metal fury in many ways. "Poisoned Atonement" continues that tone last year's single began, but only gets dimmer and more lethal.

Demonomancy employs slow, effective builds on a few occasions. "Fathomless Region of Total Eclipse" is a rumbling, effects-rich cut that creates a nightmare vibe. The trio goes right for the throat with "Nefarious Spawn of Methodical Chaos," with its noise-laden crashing guitars and buried vocals. "The Day of the Lord" is probably the most conventional song, with elements of hardcore complementing the black metal brew, though it too remains elusive for casual listeners. Every track dials up the tension as the album surges.

For fans of the band – that 10 years together has seen prodigious output, which has included two EPs and a full length in 2013, though it has been of quality – there is a lot to like about the new album. Stylistically, "Poisoned Atonement" is a ferocious comeback. Many bands serving up a caustic, grimy brand of metal have risen up in the last few years. Demonomancy can certainly lay claim to being one of the innovators. The sound is unbowed and nimble as ever on cuts like "Fiery Herald Unbound (The Victorious Predator)," with an impressive vocal delivery and buzzsaw soundtrack. If this is a version of metal you are familiar with, it may not win you over should you be skeptical to it. For fans of acts like Primitive Man and Mastiff, what Demonomancy does is sure to please.

"Poisoned Atonement" is available here:

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: Nibiru - "Qaal Babalon"

By: Ernesto Aguilar

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 22/09/2017

Label: Argonauta Records

Those who have followed Nibiru's past releases recognize the group has a way of creating dauntless music beyond what even the most experimental metal is about. "Qaal Babalon" is its best work to date, though you have to wonder how far the band can take this style next.

"Qaal Babalon" CD//DD track listing:

1. Oroch

2. Faboan

3. Bahal Gah

4. Oxex

The Review:

Standards for EPs versus full-length releases are a perplexing question. Is it a length thing? Number of tracks? And in a genre renown for sprawling cuts, what does it really mean anyway? In the matter of Nibiru, a performer that has its own talent for those long explorations, answers are even harder to come by.

Turin, Italy's Nibiru (not to be mistaken by the Russian metalcore band with the same moniker) are back to wrap up the year with a four-song release clocking in at nearly an hour. These have been an active few years for the trio. Nibiru's 2013 debut, “Caosgon”, was reissued in February 2016, the group offered up a fantastic EP, “Teloch”; and then more recordings in 2015 (“Padmalotus”) and 2014 (“Netrayoni”). Nibiru, in its releases, delivers a compelling brand of doom that melds drone, psychedelica and sludge. Drone and even a hint of funeral doom are perhaps the most prominent sounds in Nibiru's vision, and such may certainly define your love for the band, or it’s new, quite masterful, return in "Qaal Babalon."

The 19-minute "Oroch" begins the release with Ardath's transcendent guitar and vocals. Thick with effects, the instrumentation is supplemented with disharmonious drones. Black metal has its own symphonic offshoot. If drone doom had a related offspring, Nibiru would be one of its great adherents. The song has a tremendously deep and apocalyptic feel to it all. As it chugs to the midway point, Ardath unleashes a ritualistic vocal that comes across as a particularly sinister chant more than a growl in the best, most infernal way. Make no bones about it – even for an ardent doom fan, this is a very punishing start. Yet its conclusion, with its black metal-esque curvature of lyrics, will be incredibly satisfying for those who stay the course.

Through the middle of the recording, "Faboan" and "Bahal Gah" are both the most provocative tracks because they are each going to demonstrate a side of Nibiru you would not expect after the start of "Qaal Babalon." "Faboan" is the most accessible song on the release. It is not only a faithful and compelling doom composition, but there are post-rock and punk influences evident particularly across instrumental bridges. As such, as a second cut, this is a surprising and excellent choice because it builds on the imposing opener with something more comprehensible to the new fan. The next song verges into territory blazed by the opening, while managing to introduce sludge and drone that make it less disorienting than the selection could easily go off into. Praise be to L.C. Chertan on drums, whose work really steadies the song and brings out the potency of its first three minutes. Again, Ardath proves to be an agile vocalist, hitting a lower register and meeting the downtempo mood and effects.

Before you get the idea that Nibiru are now shooting for Mastodon-level acceptability, the band closes with "Oxex," far more temerarious an entry than even the opening. Where to begin? Few extreme music songs ever neatly fit a category. Nowhere is that more pronounced than here. From its ceremonial drum beginnings to its gentle guitar contrasted against the serrated vocals, Nibiru enters into a trancelike state, with even a tambourine. At unexpected moments, doom bass lines pick at your flesh, but the mood refuses to until around the ninth minute. Then, with a hellish whisper, Nibiru goes not into a raging metal romp, but… silence, then drone. And then… things you will just have to listen to find.

Those who have followed Nibiru's past releases recognize the group has a way of creating dauntless music beyond what even the most experimental metal is about. "Qaal Babalon" is its best work to date, though you have to wonder how far the band can take this style next.

"Qaal Babalon" is available here:

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: Sator - "Ordeal"

By: Ernesto Aguilar

Album Type: Full length

Date Released: 01/09/2017

Label: Argonauta Records

Sator keeps you listening with its true-school doom vibe -- not sludge, not stoner, not psychedelic... straight-ahead doom that you've just got to admire.  "Ordeal" is an exemplary entry into the genre, and one that its fans may undoubtedly value.

"Ordeal" CD//DD track listing:

1. Heartache

2. Ordeal

3. Soulride

4. Sky Burial

5. Funeral Pyres

The Review:

Sator is, at first listen, one of those bands you have to step back from to appreciate. Many performers particularly in metal and genres with a devoted fan base face a similar issue. It is incredibly hard to make something that stands out. The conventions of the music are such that true distinctiveness is rare.

The Genoa, Italy trio debuted in 2015 with a self-titled release, drawing a myriad of comparisons including to Neurosis and early Eyehategod. Those are lofty comparisons, perhaps. However, on "Ordeal," Sator manages to buck expectations with an impressive array of guitar attacks that make the material feel energetic. Sator keeps you listening with its true-school doom vibe -- not sludge, not stoner, not psychedelic... straight-ahead doom that you've just got to admire.

"Heartache" opens the release and it is, unsurprisingly, one of the strongest tracks. With a deep bass and drum steering the cut and a titanic guitar riff in the mix, Sator make a good first impression. The vocals are rattling with distortion, which only rachets up the fearful aesthetic. This segues into the title track. The band wrings out of these low notes and turgid bass fixtures a song that, like many songs on the album, offers a story you have to listen for a second time. Part of that is just its atypical vision for arrangement. "Soulride" continues the listening journey and proves a worthy successor. Its start is positively massive in terms of chords, and Sator doesn't let up.

The vocal effects detract at times from the overall arrangement. On lessser recordings, such effects are done to mask deficiencies in range and tonality. You don't walk away with that impression here. Instead the production seems carefully chosen to mesh with the mood of "Ordeal." And what a dense and down mood it is. Every song's tempo gets slower, muddier and more despairing as the record continues. How songs are organized and the progression of feeling that comes with it is one of Sator's strongest points on the album. Tracks get more and more crushing as time moves on, and the result is so very satisfying.

The album closes with "Funeral Pyres," a 15-minute journey that is a smashing closer. While perhaps overlong -- the song would be equally good with 2-4 minutes trimmed away -- the group's willingness to see its concepts through, even when it might be easier to slice up something more accessible, is demonstrative of its commitment to a sincerely doom album. Throughout its peaks and valleys, the final song proves to be a showcase of Sator's best qualities and maybe areas of improvement. Nevertheless "Ordeal" is an exemplary entry into the genre, and one that its fans may undoubtedly value.

"Ordeal" is available here

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

Glory Owl - S/T EP

 

Glory Owl is a Stoner Metal Band from Trieste, Italy

The members are:

Baffo Carmelo: voce
John Canaglia: basso + voce
Lars Moka: chitarra + voce
Tony Gourmet: chitarra nxm
Magico Tenagliato: batteria  

Well here is a great band to check out. Glory Owl. A hard-rocking Sludge/Stoner Metal band from Italy. We all know Italy is a great place to find awesome Doom/Sludge/Stoner Metal bands and Glory Owl is no exception.

Their S/T EP is a superb blast of high octane riffs from start to finish. If you want riffs, riffs and more riffs then Glory Owl is the band for you. First track - Shelter - gets straight down to business of rocking out.

Shelter is the perfect track to show you what Glory Owl is all about. Blistering riffs and soaring vocals give this song and EP a killer edge. The 18 minutes will have you rocking out from start to finish as the guys have written some great riffs to head-bang to.

Glory Owl do add Blues Rock and Grunge to their sound on later songs and it's a wise move. As it shows Glory Owl are not your average Stoner Metal band. They like to experiment with their sound. Each of the songs have a different vibe to each other and that is usually very hard to pull off on your debut release. But Glory Owl do this time and time again.

Italy - You have done it again by providing the world of Stoner Metal with another brilliant band to check out. I am beginning to lose count the number of awesome bands coming from the Italian Stoner Metal scene. Nor am I going to complain if the bands are good as Glory Owl.

Do yourself a favour - Headover to BandCamp and download this now as it's available  on Buy Now download. 

Excellent and Highly Recommended.

Check The Band From Links Below

Facebook

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