Self – produced EP (December 21st 2012)
Line – up (2009): Josh Lyon - vocals;
Nick Craggs - guitars;
Luke Ibach - bass;
Sean Wilhide - drums.
Nick Craggs - guitars;
Luke Ibach - bass;
Sean Wilhide - drums.
Location: Frederick , Maryland (United States
Better song of the EP:
“Dug Up”.
Better feature of the album:
Its suffocating restlessness.
In these last times the black/grindcore is contaminating the globe with its uncontrollable rage and its one – minute furious songs. In my country, there are excellent but few bands like Male Misandria, Rejekts and O, that are all curiously located in North Italy, no one band is present in the other parts of the nation (except my Roman solo – project). Obviously, also the United States have a scene in progress, by the way I remember that I reviewed “Illusory” of the Texans Absvrdist few months ago, a black/grind masterpiece full of schizo and complex song. But the Sloth Herder aren’t inferior to Absvrdist, also because they show a good personality, as many bands of the genre.
“Abandon Pop Sensibility” starts with the intro, a slow instrumental track made of slimy and threatening riffs, some freezing arpeggios, while the song structure is based more or less on the variations about a single musical solution. After these two minutes of terrorizing waiting, the total massacre begins.
But what a massacre! It isn’t the usual hit wildly all over the place, no, because the blast – beats are always balanced with mid or slow – tempos, all the more so because that these ones are very used to create a sudden and ultra - fast climax (listen “Cowards of the New Age” and, above all, “Dug Up”). Besides, also the groove moments have a good importance, especially in the first song, creating an headbanging atmosphere. So, the tempo shifts are frequent, the tracks’ structure is free and unconventional, but not like in the hysterical way of the Absvridst, also because the Sloth Herder songs often reach a length of 2 – 3 minutes at most.
I like very much the guitarwork. No melodies, the riffing is dynamic and often cold, the freezing arpeggios gives another element of restlessness to the music, while some riffs contains a remarkable madness, sludging the doomish passages. Moreover, the soloist guitar strengthens sometimes the main riff, even if there is no one solo in the album, and this is a constant of black/grindcore genre. Certain intuitions of soloist guitar are very decisive, like in the final chaotic moments of “Dug Up”, where all falls apart.
The vocals are the only aspect of this experience that I don’t like very much. Why? Stay calm, because before I must say that they are divided between the screams (the main vocals) and some raw growls. The “problems” comes from the first ones, since they don’t appear so strong and mad, maybe the production is guilty, the screams aren’t been bring out enough, hence I advise to emphasize them for the next times.
Okay, we are in the last lines of this review. In brief, Sloth Herder are very interesting, they know to balance perfectly the frontal assault with moments of relative reflection, striking in the right way without exaggerations of any kind. For me, the guys are ready to record an album, as well because “Abandon Pop Sensibility” is their second EP in the only 2012, showing a good prolificity. But I have a little curiosity: this EP is the third album released in December 21st 2012 that I reviewed. It has been a fortune if the world didn’t explode with all these records…
Rating: 79
Flavio "Claustrofobia" Adducci
Tracklist:
1 – Intro/ 2 – Cowards of the New Age/ 3 – Spiritual Aim/ 4 – Relapse/Reward/ 5 – Bleached/ 6 – Dug Up
BandCamp:
BlogSpot:
FaceBook:
No comments:
Post a Comment