The Sludgelord Sour 16 for June 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.

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.

So here is the The Sludgelord Sour 16 for June 2015, 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).      GodSleep – ‘Thousand Sons of Sleep’ (249)

“Thousand Sons of Sleep” is a deep and complex record with a lot to offer.’

Full Review

15).      Oxen – ‘The Vanishing’ (260)

‘The Vanishing’ demands your full attention as it's one of the years most exciting and thrilling debut albums you're likely to come across.’

Full Review

14).      Nightslug – ‘Loathe’ (262)

‘It’s a hellacious racket from moment one, but it’s also exceedingly catchy and memorable.’

Full Review

13).      OHHMS – ‘Cold’ EP (265)

‘Cold is a brilliant record and stands out as a potential Album/EP of the year.’

Full Review

12).      Sons of Huns – ‘While Sleep Stay Awake’ (281)

‘Sons of Huns set themselves apart from the competition by taking influences from the past but making their music sound current and vital instead of a lifeless recreation.’

Full Review

11).      Connoisseur – ‘Stone Violence’ (277)

‘Imagine if you will, Hatebreed if they were pissed off about a bad weed supply’

Full Review

10).      Grusom – ‘Grusom’ (290)

This is a very cohesive debut

Full Review

09).      Lo! – ‘The Tongueless’ EP (294)

‘At once both heavy and sparse, dense and expansive, they are a hardcore paradox that make music that is a true experience.’

Full Review

08).      Church – ‘Unanswered Hymns’ (296)

’With a very solid debut elegantly combining all the main elements of a great doom record, Church truly might already have themselves one of the genre’s opera magna.’

Full Review

07).      Death Alley – ‘Black Magick Boogieland’ (297)

‘There are riffs the size of continents flying by; the vocals take full advantage of their role, and the band gels, jams, and jives.’

Full Review

06).      Ommadon – ‘Empathy for the Wicked’ (309)

‘If being bombarded with sludgy evil riffs is your thing...or getting absolutely pulverized and driven into the pavement by colossal thundering drums until your body collapses, this release is perfect for you.’

Full Review

05).      Goatsnake – ‘Black Age Blues’ (313)

‘There can be no doubt that this record will feature on many end of year lists and deservedly so.’

Full Review

04).      Rosetta – ‘Quintessential Ephemera (321)

‘The whole album is expansive and ethereal in its delivery and production’

Full Review

03).      Lightsabres – ‘Beheaded’ (332)

‘Beheaded is a full-throttle, kick-ass Stoner Rock record’

Full Review

02).      Sacri Monti – ‘Sacri Monti’ (396)

‘This album is an exciting psychedelic ride from start to finish’

Full Review

01).      High on Fire – ‘Luminiferous (589)

‘This album is so fucking good, if you do not get it, you are a dum dum’

Full Review

Nightslug - 'Loathe' (Album Review)

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 1/7/2015

Label: Dry Cough Records,

Broken Limbs Recordings,

Lost Pilgrims Records

‘Loathe’ LP//DD track listing:

1. Vile Pegs

2. Loathe

3. The Thrill Is Gone: Repulsion

4. Under a Bane

5. Disease

6. Pure

7. Tainted Throne

Nightslug is:

P.Slug | Bass

F.Slug | Drums

J.Slug | Guitar/Vocals

Review:

Nightslug is an interesting band. Everything they do is simple and easily digestible, even with all of the feedback and grime which saturates every second of the album. It’s a hellacious racket from moment one, but it’s also exceedingly catchy and memorable. There are no shortage of bands occupying the sludge niche in 2015, and so many of these bands rely so heavily on production and tone that they forget they need to write riffs that stick. With ‘Loathe’, Nightslug succeeds in both areas without over-complicating a subgenre in which complexity’s a good way to lose the plot altogether.

One of the album’s great strengths is in its tempo and rhythm diversity. Title track “Loathe” works with a stomping 4/4 beat, bolstered by anthemic death n’ roll guitar work that sounds like it was written in Stockholm and then fed through a Coffinworm filter, though this carries none of Coffinworm’s black metal proclivities. It’s more that the loose feel and tempo of everything feels similar, though Nightslug’s a bit more heavy and devastating in execution. The song that follows, “The Thrill Is Gone: Repulsion”, is much more measured and plodding. Slow, primitive sludge like this can be a tricky thing, and it can be a thin line that separates a gargantuan, moving and yet uncluttered riff from something that’s just lethargic and half-hearted. By and large, Nightslug keeps themselves from crossing over to the wrong side.

The lone exception to that rule also comes in the form of the album’s first song. ‘Vile Pegs’ is a step or two below everything else on the album and unfortunately starts the album on a considerably less interesting note than everything that comes after it. The title track in particular would have been a fantastic opening song, where ‘Vile Pegs’ might have been better served somewhere in the album’s second half.

Even when considering that one misstep, the rest of the album more than makes up for a somewhat inauspicious beginning the cumulative power and venom of the six songs that follow. Where a slow start can often hurt an album’s overall experience, that isn’t even remotely close to the case with ‘Loathe’. Instead, you simply have to get through one minor roadblock to get to some of the nastiest music you’ll hear this or any other year. You’d be doing yourself a real disservice if you pass this up.

Words by: Daniel Jackson

You can pick up a digital copy here and an LP copy here.

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