Sludge

Varego – I Prophetic Review

Varego – I Prophetic Review

“I’m gonna go ahead and say it: making good music is hella difficult. Us reviewers have it easy; the only skill our trade requires is writing good. But an album has so many steps where it can falter and bring down the entire Jenga tower. The musicians have to be able to play their instruments reasonably well. If they have a vocalist it’s double the trouble, judging by how many albums are tripped up by the vocals. Songwriting is a balancing exercise in and of itself; riffs, bridges, structure, all without sounding too derivative and trying for some originality. Then when you finally have everything put together, you have the recording and producing process, and it may still fall into traps of sounding lifeless or generic. It’s a miracle any good albums are produced at all!” Me write good some day.

Hollow Leg – Civilizations Review

Hollow Leg – Civilizations Review

“The most widely known motto by the late legendary movie reviewer Roger Ebert is probably “It’s not about what [it’s] about, it’s how it’s about it.” It’s an elegant way to say that a self-effacing B-movie may be just as (or more) successful as a grandiose historical epic at doing what it set out to do. Similarly, metal albums can be intended as highfalutin, genre-defining epics and fail miserably, or be highly entertaining and successful at simple and straightforward goals. The curiously named Floridian outfit Hollow Leg is among the latter category.” Head up, leg empty.

Woorms – Slake Review

Woorms – Slake Review

“I normally don’t take the whole “new year, new me” maxim seriously at all. I mean sure, improvements are a good thing, right? But an entire overhaul of oneself is completely unnecessary. That said, my first review of the year isn’t a one-person black metal project. How novel! In fact, said review involves the words “sludge” and “Louisiana,” two words that’ll make me shove other writers here aside like Patsy Stone gunning for her favorite bottle of vodka. Yep, Slake, the debut album from Louisiana power trio Woorms, broke my combo of icy-cold bedroom blackness once and for all, and you would think that I would be a happy camper here.” From black to blues.

The Mound Builders – The Mound Builders Review

The Mound Builders – The Mound Builders Review

“The break room at my real life place of employment has one of those old glass globe candy dispensers. It’s full of candy and only costs a nickel, but it goes largely unused by employees. No, not because millennials have never seen a nickel and the machine doesn’t take Venmo. It’s avoided because some sociopathic agent of chaos filled the thing with a mix of M&Ms and Skittles that are almost visually indistinguishable. Sure, both are independently enjoyable, but something about the idea of accidentally tasting them in combination, or getting one when you expect the other makes people dubious. The new eponymous album by Lafayette, Indiana’s The Mound Builders is the musical equivalent of this conundrum of expectations.” Sketchy candy.

Wolf King – Loyal to the Soil [Things You Might Have Missed 2018]

Wolf King – Loyal to the Soil [Things You Might Have Missed 2018]

Wolf King’s impressive debut LP Loyal to the Soil dropped back in April and marked the young Californian band as an act to watch. Vitriolic blackened hardcore sits at the core of Wolf King’s sound, with sludgy beat-downs and whiffs of grind fleshing out their confident and aggressive formula. Although by no means a pair of peas in a pod, there’re certainly some aesthetic and tonal similarities with Germany’s Mantar, with Wolf King arguably having the upper hand when comparing their 2018 releases.” Wolf King can do anything.

Morne – To the Night Unknown Review

Morne – To the Night Unknown Review

“There’s heavy, and then there’s heavy. Morne are the latter. If you don’t know the difference, you will after listening to To the Night Unknown, the Boston band’s fourth album. To be honest, I’m wasn’t previously familiar with this group, nor have we reviewed any of their older material here at AMG, but after letting To the Night Unknown melt my speakers and put cracks in my walls for a few weeks, I’ll be exploring their back-catalog tout suite.” Morne is more.

Mule Skinner – Airstrike Review

Mule Skinner – Airstrike Review

“Through my obsession with Acid Bath, I developed a taste for other trailblazing NOLA bands, from Soilent Green, Eyehategod, Down and Crowbar, to lesser known acts, like underrated grind maestros Flesh Parade and Mule Skinner. The latter act released a gem of a lone LP in 1996 called Abuse that I snagged a CD copy of many moons ago.” Skin to win.

KEN mode – Loved Review

KEN mode – Loved Review

“What the fuck is that? A demented shadow person? A medieval executioner? The nightmarish specter of your father asking you why you haven’t eaten your Brussels sprouts? These are the questions you’ll ask yourself as you try in vain to fall asleep tonight, knowing full well that leering figure is definitely not standing right at the foot of your bed. In a way it’s fitting, because KEN mode’s music is equally likely to leave an impression.” Sludge monsters.