Revisionist Western

There are a few things I love unequivocally:  Two person sludge bands.  Two person sludge bands with no guitar.  Two person sludge bands with no guitar that you could imagine kids skateboarding to in the 90s.  Thosar is, decidedly, all three.  Hailing from Weiz, Austria, Thosar play a manic, energetic style of bass/drums sludge that feels like a cross between 90s groove metal bands like Unsane, Helmet, and Quicksand, and noisy, stoner skate punk like California X or Bummer. The thing I like about bands like this is they often have a shaggy sort of "hey, dude, let's start a band" vibe to them that I find incredibly endearing. There's something about two people playing sludge with just two instruments, neither of which are the instrument we most associate with the genre, that feels like the fun of a basement show distilled to its essence to me. Thosar captures that feeling very well on Elementa. The album has an almost improvisational feel to it, with the son...

I have a theory that most  bands are a mix of genres, even if some of the genres are subtle, and the secondary, more submerged genres often make a difference as to whether or not you like something.  For example, I like a lot of sludge and post metal, but a lot of the (big scare quotes, here) "big sludge bands" aren't the ones I like (for example, I can't really get into The Melvins). I think the reason why is that I'm just, frankly, not that into a lot of the submerged genres that lots of the big sludge bands are built on and which seem to be a lot of people's way in to listening to that sort of thing. Grunge, prog rock, dessert rock, etc., none of those genres do much for me. So if you're a sludge or post metal band that has an undertow (see what I did there?) of one of those genres, I'm almost certainly not going to like it. Nothing personal, you do your thing, but it's just not something that resonates with me. Liträo, on the other hand, are sl...

Germany's Beculted sound, to me, like what would happen if Thou was a black metal band. They have these ugly, crawling sludge riffs that just tunnel into your brain which alternate with blast beat driven grind reminiscent of something like Vanum or Panopticon . A truly dirty guitar tone gives the album a raw and churning vibe, and with only 3 songs (despite each clocking in at over 10 minutes), it's a relatively quick listen that leaves you wanting more. If you're into contemporary, blackened sludge, I would absolutely give this record a listen. I enjoyed it a lot.  Arcane Manifestations by beculted

I tend to think that musical barriers that are highly pronounced in one generation tend to fall in the next because young people are musical sponges, soaking up all kinds of different influences that might seem antithetical to older generations. For example, I can't imagine trying to explain to someone who is 21 now that there was a point where mixing metal and hardcore was controversial. Whether  to incorporate metal and, if so, how  to incorporate it into hardcore were open questions when I was a kid. Now, a band like Portland's Screwed just throw chainsaw grind, metalcore, d-beat, sludge, and thrash in a blender like there'd never be a question all those things should go together and we're all better for it. On Terror Cycle, Screwed churn their way through eight menacingly ugly songs, reminding me of something like Moral Void, on the hardcore end, or Primitive Man, for the sludge influence. The guitar tone is spot on HM-2 worship, but they tend to be slower and chugg...

  There's a certain kind of sludge metal that eschews the normal slow and crushing pace of the genre and, instead, goes for something a bit faster, often influenced by some combination of d-beat, NWOBHM stuff, or grunge. Göteborg's Wolves in Haze ride this sound really well. In fact, this is a sound I'm not always a fan of as I tend to think it can sometimes veer into cheese-rock territory, but Wolves of Haze keep their songs pretty grounded in heaviness and full on likable riffage even as they bring the speed. I would say that someone into bands like High on Fire, Mutoid Man, Electric Hydra, or Killer Be Killed would easily find something to like in the pile of mid-tempo and fast stoner riffs Wolves in Haze drop on you on Chaos Reigns. Check it out below. Chaos Reigns by Wolves in haze

  I've never been that into chuggy breakdowns in hardcore for reasons I can't quite put my finger on. When I was coming up, it felt like two out of every three bands put out albums that were mostly just jud-jud style mosh part after jud-jud style mosh part for 25 minutes straight. I tended, on the other hand, to gravitate towards fast, chaotic hardcore or sludgy riffs. As such, the chuggy breakdowns never did it for me. Even I have to admit, though, that Mastiff has really cracked the code on this genre.  If I were to theorize why I like this record so much, despite it being on the far end of chuggy for what I normally listen to, I would say the following: (1) It rules, and you can't argue with good. (2) A lot of the bands, historically, that pile breakdown on top of breakdown tend to be pretty clean. You know the sound I mean: scooped guitar tones, tight and technical playing, that sort of thing. Mastiff, on the other hand, brings a much darker aesthetic to their breakdown...

Currently driving cross country, but just stopping in to say that Barren and DAHTM, two bands I have written about previously, and who are both quite good, have new releases.  Barren has an EP of furious grind that delivers on the promises of their demo, and DAHTM has released two new churning songs from their upcoming full length. You can stream both below.  Some longer posts coming soon.   Kurungaituku by DAHTM And Then There Were None by Barren