I am reviewing this record as I listen to it, which is probably poor form, but hell, I haven’t even reviewed a record in months (being a one man show, moving 2000 miles and bouncing between jobs 3 times in as many months will do that). Enough with my bullshit, on to DKH’s (Doe Kill Hooves) self titled offering.
A little preface, DKH is from Brighton, UK and cite Mastodon, Converge, Black Flag, Sleep, Glassjaw or Cave-In as influences. Alright, digging in…
My first impressions here are that these dudes get it. It’s heavy as hell, the guitar tone has teeth and there is no shortage nasty d-beats. The first track Crows, reminds me of On the Lam era Cavity, starting off as a slow paced crusher and morphing into a crust-influence ripper. The second track, Sea of Trees follows suit, reminiscent of mid-2000’s Converge and a bridge that reminds me of Cable. As I get further in, the layers of this band start to get more apparent; doom grooves and effect laden guitar leads make their way into the mix on Flight into the Sun, which takes a psychedelic turn reminiscent of Rwake and early era Mastodon.
There is no lack of feedback and fuzzed out bass guitar, which is sure to please most sludge fans. The riffs are nasty and the vocals have a tortured, bordering-on-uncontrolled timbre that reminds me of Eye Hate God.
At this point in the review I am on the 6th track of 7, Congregation of Cunts, another of the records rippers. To continue in the list of bands this band reminds me of, this one reminds me os In the Eyes of God-era Today is the Day noise metal, starting off a jagged, thrashy assault and progressing into a sludgy mess. Which makes sense thematically given that it leads into a song called Sludgehammer that finishes out the record. Sludgehammer lives up to the name, this is another one that reminds me a lot of Cavity (which is a very good thing as far as I am concerned). It’s slow, heavy and the feedback.. and vocals are barely under control. The last of the fuzz and feed back are fading out now, I can honestly say that I’m into it. This is definitely one I’m going to listen to again, and if they were to offer it on LP when the physical copy is released in 2013, I would buy it up.
But don’t take my word for it, get to the DKH bandcamp page and check it out.
Hailing from Avignon, south of France, Mudbath has released this summer their first EP, “Red Desert Orgy” : 22 minutes of tough sludge/doom with a hint of blackened hardcore influenced by Electric Wizard, Kylesa, Gloomy Sunday or Cultura Tres. The band has shared the stage across France with names such as Birds In Row, Verdun or Morse and will be touring this autumn.
You can download “Red Desert Orgy” for free at http://mudbath.bandcamp.com.
Great EP, and free. Get it.
bloodoflions asked: Hey, do you have any idea where I could find more of that Skycrawler stuff?
As of right now the only recording online is that soundcloud. You should go to www.facebook.com/pages/Skycrawler/ and keep an an eye out.
Skycrawler // As It Was Before Us
Super heavy, psychedelic doom from ATX.
There are tons of submissions for me to go through, Doom Sludge is a one-man show still, and I have been busy as hell.
I’m going to get to this stuff this week though, you haven’t been forgotten.
Promo for Civil Disobedience for Losers by Indian Handcrafts. Preview and pre-order here.
I love this band. Seriously haven’t been this impressed with a two-piece since I first heard Big Biz. For fans of fuzzy, noisy, riff-loaded, hook-laden rock. Plus DBA is the man, the best dude. Talk about amps with him on the Facebook all the time.
Support the hell out of these guys, the new record comes out on October 30th through Sargent House (this label is rocking a formidable roster these days), they’re gonna tour. You should go see them and maybe buy them a beer. Definitely buy their records.
(Source: vimeo.com)
Serpentine Path - Demo
All three members of Unearthly Trance, the founding bass player from Electric Wizard/guitarist of Ramesses playing death/doom. Reminds me of dISEMBOWELMENT and Winter.
Full length coming in September via Relapse.
Click through for their bandcamp.
I haven’t forgotten about you, but this is a one man operation. And that one mad is really busy most of the time.
Hail Satan.
Please have a decent recording.
What I look for:
I’m not expecting a recording that sounds like it was done By Jack Endino or Steve Albini, but it needs to be listenable. I’m sure you can find a friend with a MBP and a warezed copy of Logic and a midi USB interface or someone with a hacked copy of ProToolz on their PC and a few acceptable mics.
On that note: I would like to see some more submissions. Please only submit your own bands. I’ll take suggestions and post stuff from other bands you like but I would prefer that submissions be a short bio and a link to bandcamp/soundcloud; submitting an audio track is really cool too.
Xozo - Sludge/doom/hardcore from Maryland.
I ignore about 90% of the bands that submit their bandcamp to DoomSludge. I listen to all of it, but most of it is terrible. It’s recorded terribly, and more often than not, someone is out of time. This is definitely not the case for Xozo (pronounced ‘Chozo’).
All ten tracks are professionally produced and sound great. The drums are tight, the guitars roar and the bass grows while still being punchy. That really doesn’t telly you much about band though.
This record reminds my of early Shipwreck AD with a heavy dose of Times Of Grace-era Neurosis. I’m two listens in, and I’m into it. It might fall into that weird category of being too metal for hardcore fans and too hardcore for the metal heads, but that is the type of stuff I really dig. Xozo roars, they’re melodic, and they aren’t afraid to throw a sludgy stoner groove at you if they need too.
Download it at their bandcamp, and apparently it comes out on wax next month.
