Toss cult hardcore icons Rorschach in a blender with misanthropic sludgesters Dystopia and whirl in a dose of modern discontent and you've got Sloth Herder.
Abandon Pop Sensibility, the band's latest EP, does just that. Sloth Herder rarely rely on a refrain or hook, and never anything to sing along to in order to get the listener involved. Instead, the band juggles speeds and mixes in a thick and harsh sound that is at its best in speedy transitions. Much like the bands mentioned before, Sloth Herder's got this kind of thudding, hard to pin-down type of momentum that pulls you in with repeated listens and yet is always a bit unpredictable.
Few if any moments really stick out on this short EP. I don't know if that's really a bad thing or not, but partly due to the production, as well as the band's style, changes and developments are subtle as everything's always pushed to the max. The bass is prominent in a Jo Bench kind of way and the drums are a bit buried beneath the mid-cutting guitar and throaty vocals. Gross, graveyard dirges are used with individually plucked guitar notes sans heavy distortion which overlap with the backing band to create these lurching and dread filled sections.
Should appeal to those who liked oppressive, gloomy, and rough metal that's not afraid to change paces.
4 comments:
I'm really digging this EP. Excellent work on articulating how this sounds; I'm working on a review and coming up with exactly zero words to describe this awesome oddity at the moment.
Thanks man. I still feel i didn't paint a good picture, just needed to say something before I blanked out completely.
Would love to hear a full length from these guys.
kinda reminds of accept death, which was an awesome, short-lived sludge band featuring a host of cleveland guys from hemdale, apartment 213, and fistula. you can snag it from relapse for a measly five bucks these days. you may also dig that.
Hmm,now that I'm thinking about it, Sloth Herder does have a very early 90's feel to it.
Cleveland, apartment 213 and fistula? Sounds ugly enough!
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