Beastwars

Di’Aul – Abracamacabra Review

Di’Aul – Abracamacabra Review

By Cherd on March 20, 2022 in Reviews, 23 comments

“When it comes to the types of metal we cover on this site, it’s rare to find bands openly drawing from grunge, even though it was the dominant rock style of the 90s. Bluesy hard rock and prog from the 70s, 80s guitar heroics; scroll through the reviews on our homepage and you’ll find a band or five still mining those veins. Sure, there’s sludge, grunge’s fugly big brother, but love that genre as I do, it rarely trips the dormant teenage Cherd nostalgia centers of my brain that flare up when something 90s alt rock radio adjacent passes over my earballs. Di’Aul, on the other hand, crashes into the ol’ cortex like an atomic elbow off the top rope.” Alice in pains.

Sycomore – Bloodstone Review

Sycomore – Bloodstone Review

By Kenstrosity on February 11, 2020 in 2020, Argonauta Records, French Metal, Reviews, Sludge, Sludge, 7 comments

“Sludge metal. Depending on who you ask, it’s either awesome or meh. If you ask me, sludge falls under the hit-or-miss category, with an unfortunate bias towards miss. When everything comes together, e.g. all four records of Beastwars and the first four of Mastodon, the result is usually a monolithic slab of grimy riffs and scathing vocal assaults drowned in the fuzz of the damned. This is a good thing. However, all other times you end up with something about as interesting/enjoyable as room-temperature coffee poured out of a carafe stained as yellow as the dust inside a chain-smoker’s PC. This is a bad thing.” Sludge life.

Beastwars – IV Review

Beastwars – IV Review

By Saunders on June 28, 2019 in 2019, Destroy Records, Doom Metal, New Zealand Metal, Reviews, Sludge, Stoner Metal, Doom Metal, Sludge Metal, Stoner Metal, 37 comments

“Aside from the fierce sporting rivalry, cross Tasman cultural banter, and endless sheep-fucking jokes, we Aussies generally hold our New Zealand pals from across the ditch in high regard. So sharing in the artistic success of our neighbors is not uncommon. In metal terms, powerhouse act Beastwars are one of the finest bands to emerge from the New Zealand metal scene in recent years.” Stronger than death.

Beastwars – The Death of All Things Review

Beastwars – The Death of All Things Review

By Saunders on April 20, 2016 in 2016, Destroy Records, Doom Metal, New Zealand Metal, Reviews, Sludge, Doom Metal, Sludge Metal, Stoner Rock, 19 comments

“New Zealand’s Beastwars popped up on my radar with their excellent Blood Becomes Fire album in 2013. They impressed me with their bruising style of doomy sludge metal, combining the heft of Leviathan-era Mastodon and molten riffage of High on Fire before injecting subtle doses of ’90s grunge, prog and classic rock influences into the mix.” Feast on this beast.