Sludge Metal

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Ramesses – Take the Curse (2010)

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    All the way from the UK, today we get on our review queue Ramesses latest crushing releases “Take the Curse”. While we are huge Doom Metal fans, we tend to go for the Death-Doom bands rather than the Sludge/Psychedelic Metal bands. Ramesses falls on the second category and while not our favorite band in the world, they do a great job in creating 10 solid tracks for this new release.

    The problem most people might have about Sludge/Doom Metal is the lack of ‘originality’ and diversity than most bands present. We rather look at Sludge/Doom Metal releases from a perspective of effectiveness rather than originality or diversity, and Ramesses is a very effective band in our opinion. The band creates a very bleak and sometimes trippy atmosphere that not everybody pulls off these days.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Kruger – For Death, Glory and the End of the World (2010)

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    Out of the very impressive roster of Listenable Records, we get today another genre-bending band. Kruger hails from Switzerland and their combination of Sludge/Groove and Post-Metal is superb. For over 45 minutes “For Death, Glory and the End of the Word” delivers 9 brutal tracks.

    With the waves of new bands coming out these days it’s very hard to bump into one that makes you fully appreciate the art of crafting a different sound that is both powerful and enthralling. Kruger achieves this since the first song, with a brilliant combination of aggressive ‘Sludgy’ riffs, aggressive vocals and solid drumming.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Mouth Of The Architect – The Violence Beneath (2010)

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    American Sludge Metal monsters are back with “The Violence Beneath”, a four song EP that features two new songs, a live song and a cover of Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes”. While we feel that this EP does a good job to create anticipation for the band’s future full-length release, an anticipation that is currently burning inside us, since we really enjoy Mouth Of The Architect’s (MOTA) releases.

    Two years have passed since their crushing album “Quietly” and we were wondering what was going out with MOTA. With the two new tracks “The Violence Beneath” and “Buried Hopes” we get a nice continuation from where the band left off with “Quietly”.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    The Abominable Iron Slot – The Id Will Overcome (2010)

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    Hailing from several cities across the USA we have The Abominable Iron Slot or is it The Indomitable Iron slot?? Since they keep changing it we kind of lost track of it, but apparently the CD has the first name on its cover. Anyways, the band plays Sludge/Stoner Metal with as much inspiration as you can get from watching paint dry.

    We usually like good releases in the Sludge/Stoner metal genre, but “The Id Will Overcome” is definitely not one of them. Using a massive amount of recycled riffs through this album, we feel the band’s inspiration was almost not existent and they just chugged out whatever they could come up in a few minutes.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Black Cobra – Chronomega (2009)

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    Black Cobra is a two man band that plays very rudimentary but effective Sludge/Doom Metal, something that newer bands have problems doing so, by trying to be ‘extra awesome’ and using assloads of different distortions and fancy recording gimmicks.

    “Chronomega” features 9 tracks of crushing Sludge Metal, now on Southern Lord, the band shows that their basic style is effective enough to trump any other release of this genre. It’s heavy, is ‘sluggish’, is lo-fi, and it’s very effective.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Megasus – Megasus (2009)

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    Featuring members of the company that developed the Rock Band and Guitar Hero games, Megasus had even some tracks featured in those games before dropping their self-titled debut album “Megasus”.

    And while the guys might be talented game developers (if they had any direct involvement in the games) they are not very talented at writing music. Hiding behind a very rudimentary sounding distortion this band has nothing else going on for them.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    The Atlas Moth – A Glorified Piece Of Blue Sky (2009)

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    Is this Sludge/Stoner Metal month? I have reviewed more albums of these genres this month than in the last year or so. The Atlas Moth is a band from Chicago, Illinois and like I mentioned they play a blend of Sludge with Stoner Metal influences.

    “A Glorified Piece Of Blue Sky” features 50 minutes of music divided in 8 tracks that guarantee a very interesting delusional ride into the band’s mind. I must say that I really enjoy an album that flows nicely from aggressiveness into more trippy songs.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Black Skies – Hexagon (2009)

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    Black Skies is a 3 man band that hails from North Carolina, USA. The band’s musical style is Sludge Metal, and they do a pretty kick ass job at playing the genre.

    Having formed only 3 years ago, the band’s sound is pretty well defined and the band has been gaining momentum since playing at SXSW in Austin, TX.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Power Pellut – Power Pellut (2009)

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    After years of getting either digital or pressed promos I got a few CD-R’s lately and I was pretty ‘scared’ about playing, since I remember few years ago, when I got a CD-R it was because the band’s usually sucked. However this month I have been impressed by all CD-R’s received, and since this album came from I’m Better Than Everyone Records, that releases only vinyl by the way, and I had just reviewed “Hexagon” by Black Skies, I was willing to give it a real chance.

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