Surprise! I know many of you have been patiently waiting for Holdeneye‘s review of the fourth full-length from UK death sludge slingers Warcrab, given how he so shamelessly ran his tongue all over their exoskeleton’s undercarriage when he reviewed their last outing, Damned In Endless Night. Well this time you get me. Don’t worry, Holdy‘s fine. He’s certainly not bound and ball-gagged in my garden shed dressed like Adventure Time’s Finn the Human, slipping in and out of consciousness in a chloroform haze. He was simply busy this week and remembered how much I also enjoyed Warcrab’s last album, so he turned over reviewing duties to yours truly. After spending a couple weeks with The Howling Silence, I’m happy to report the band’s unholy crustaceous hybrid of head-stomping death metal and gut-grinding sludge is nastier than ever. Turn it up nice and loud and it will easily drown out the muffled cries coming from your garden shed.1
Structurally, The Howling Silence is like a seesaw. On one side sits the likes of Carcass and Bolt Thrower. On the other, Crowbar and Grief. The first four songs/20 minutes of the record tip toward the former while the final three songs/25 minutes land hard on the latter. There are occasional stoner influences popping up, as on the buoyant bass line and exemplary stoner riff that makes up the first half of “Black Serpent Coils” before it gives way to driving, jittery death metal. “Sword of Mars,” one of many standouts, almost tips into Amon Amarth territory with its fist-pumping, battle-ready gallop, but Warcrab are able to balance their shifting styles so that no one sound dominates the seesaw.
Some albums succeed because of a unique sound, or because of an all-encompassing atmosphere. The Howling Silence succeeds because nearly every song will liven up the playlist of your choice. “Orbital Graveyard” is an ideal album opener, tearing through four minutes of vicious death metal with the slightest hardcore undercurrent and a quirky repeating guitar lick. I’ve already mentioned the brutal “Sword of Mars,” like a boxer pummeling you with body shots while guitarist Geoff Holmes shreds solos over your anguished cries, and “Black Serpent Coils,” with that incredible pivot from righteous stoner sludge to high energy death riffing. But in the midst of all these bangers, my favorite song on The Howling Silence is “Sourlands Under a Rancid Sky.” Where doomy cuts like the title track and “As the Mourners Turn Away” invoke Crowbar with their heart-on-sleeve sludge doom, “Sourlands” takes a page straight from Grief’s ugly, pissed-off sludge doom playbook. The song grows gnarlier and heavier as it goes and is one of the best songs of the style I’ve heard in the last five or so years.
Warcrab have made tremendous strides refining their sound with each release going back to their 2012 debut, but even then, there weren’t many bands doing what they do. On their first couple of records, there was an indistinct slurry of sludgy death doom that grew sharper and more death-y until the excellent Damned In Endless Night finally tipped more in the death doom direction. With The Howling Silence, Warcrab both re-instates their sludge doom bonafides and leans into proper OSDM in ways they haven’t before. In recent years, a small number of like-minded outfits have toyed with the same winning death metal/sludge doom combination. I’ve personally reviewed one or two. You could say a bigger name playing in the same arena is Inter Arma, but they’ve always been more post-metal with sludge and death inclinations. Simply put, nobody plays this burgeoning style better than Warcrab.
It’s no small feat to become the touchstone of a sub-genre, but Warcrab have done so through experimentation and refinement over their decade-long career. You’d think death sludge would be a more popular hybrid style, but lack of competition detracts nothing from the band’s accomplishments. The Howling Silence is their best record to date, boasting highly refined songwriting and a fully realized sound. I know at least one AOTY list it will be appearing on.2
Rating: 4.0/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Transcending Obscurity
Websites: warcrabuk.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/warcrab666
Releases Worldwide: November 3rd, 2023
