VIDEO PREMIERE: Slomatics live session launches "The Live Room Belfast"

By: Aaron Pickford

Start Together Studiosbased in Belfast, N.Ireland celebrated their 10^th anniversary last year.  Since their inception projects and bands they have work with range from Wheatus to Slomatics to The Jim Henson Companyto Nomadic Rituals.  With resident engineer Niall Doran recording so much exciting music, he has launched “The Live Room Belfast” with the idea being to film and record live sessions of bands and artists they love at the studio, but focusing the attention on the bands by sharing these live sessions with everyone.  For me what is particularly satisfying is that the debut live session is from none other than Belfast’s mightiest fuzz futurians Slomaticsand today we are debuting two of the six recorded tracks here and exclusively for THE SLUDGELORD readers.  Check out the videos for “Electric Breath” and “And Yet It Moves” below.   Guitarist David Majury also had the following to say about the sessions

“Being invited to record a live session at Start Together was a huge honour for us. Not only is it a world class studio right here in Belfast, but it's also a real hub for the shared music scene here. We've recorded there several times and the session was very much like an album session - live and with the amps cranked!”

For more info: theliveroombelfast

ALBUM REVIEW: R.I.P. - "Street Reaper"

By: Richard Maw

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 13/10/2017

Label: Riding Easy Records

I don't expect it to usurp the likes of “Born Too Late” or Pentagram “Relentless” in my list of best all time doom albums, but if you want a modern doom rock album with lots of attitude and overdrive, then this is one you should check out.

“Street Reaper “CD//DD//LP track listing:

1). Unmarked Grave

2). Street Reaper

3). Mother Road

4). The Dark

5). The Other Side

6). Shadows Fool

7). Brimstone

8). The Cross

9). The Casket

10). Die in Vain

The Review:

Portland's R.I.P. unleashed their debut on an unsuspecting public back in 2016. Since then, the press seem to have latched on to the quartet's “street doom” label as something new in the doom sphere. Truthfully, it is not. Street doom is as old as Saint Vitus and The Obsessed... maybe even as old as Sabbath! Any doom head knows the difference- fantasy vs reality, heroes vs heroin and so on.  Regardless of what genre tag has been ascribed, “In The Wind” was an enjoyable slice of Saint Vitus meeting Fu Manchu. With “Street Reaper”, the band have progressed their sound on by focussing it and tightening up the arrangements.

The one minor criticism I levelled at their debut was that it was a little on the long side. Well, the ten tracks here have solved that problem and the band have really delivered a muscular set of songs. Once again, the influences are there: Pentagram, The Stooges, Saint Vitus, Sabbath... and the aforementioned Fu Manchu. The spectre of the Californian state looms large in the sound and vibe, and gives the band a little something extra, a little uniqueness. A little of the desert and a little of the imagery shown on the album cover- four hirsute dudes rolling in a low-rider. It is clear that these guys are not from Barnsley, that's for sure!

The music is direct and punchy, featuring over-driven bass and fuzzed up guitars again. The riffs are simple and groovy and this really does have the feel of street level music. From the opening chug of “Unmarked Grave”, through the title track and beyond; this will get your head nodding. As noted first time around, it is great to hear a band with a singer and actual riffs. This isn't about playing really slow or being massively heavy but is instead more about the vibe and the flow of the record. There are nods to the gods via instrumental interludes like “The Cross”, grooving slabs of riffage such as “Shadows Folds” and even some more melodic playing here and there (the intro of “The Dark”, for instance, and the closing “Die in Vain”).

The wheel is not being reinvented here, but that isn't the point. R.I.P. bring a slightly more youthful swagger to the game- it's welcome as most of the really big players are knocking on a  bit now, to say the least. By the time of the seventh track “The Casket”, you will have made up your mind about the album. Personally, I like it. I don't expect it to usurp the likes of “Born Too Late”or Pentagram “Relentless” in my list of best all time doom albums, but if you want a modern doom rock album with lots of attitude and overdrive, then this is one you should check out.

With the last three tracks clocking in at around four and a half minutes apiece, the band close the show consistently, albeit using different tempos and approaches as they go- relatively up tempo, slower dinosaur riffing and melodic- respectively. The yowling vocals are more Reagersthan Wino, the sound is never less or more than over-driven and fuzzy and the whole thing works well. It is an improvement on their debut and sets the band up very well for album number three and a possible rise through the ranks of doom. When are they coming to the UK?!

“Street Reaper”is available here

Band info:  Facebook||Instagram || Bandcamp

ALBUM REVIEW: Wild Rocket - "Dissociation Mechanics"

By: Ernesto Aguilar

Album Type: EP

Date Released: 07/07/2017

Label: Art for Blind

Their debut "Geomagnetic Hallucinations," earned a reputation for its immersive music and brainy, intriguing lyrical themes. With their follow up they give you that again, and more. Make no mistake this group is a high-quality original that stands on its own. The stupendous "Into The Black Hole" is a true testament to that.

“Dissociation Mechanics” CD//DD//LP track listing

1. Caught In Triangle Again

2. Infinite Reconnaissance Imager

3. Into The Black Hole

4. The Future Echoes

5. The Edges Of Reality

The Review:

Defunct noise rock visionary band Sonic Youth experienced much popularity over its near 30-year career, including the commercially successful albums "Goo", "Dirty" and "Daydream Nation." Hardcore fans point to a recording like 1985's "Bad Moon Rising" to be the birth of what would be the definitive Sonic Youth sound: sheets of avant garde influences, rambunctious guitars and off-the-wall effects that were a fertile bed for Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon's irascible songsmithing.

In listening to psychedelic punk crew Wild Rocket. One cannot escape an ambience that feels very much like the most animated version of Sonic Youth circa "Bad Moon Rising" and possibly "Daydream Nation." In the case of the Dublin, Ireland outfit's sophomore recording, the emphasis on noise punk, like Sonic Youth, belies a uniquely crafty selection of music.

On the opener "Caught In Triangle Again" the tenor of the past is evident. You can almost lean back and picture what Moore would do with this, it is such a faithful interpretation. Make no mistake though, because the group is a high-quality original that stands on its own. The stupendous "Into The Black Hole" is a true testament to that.

When Wild Rocket released their debut, "Geomagnetic Hallucinations," in 2014, it earned a reputation for its immersive music and brainy, intriguing lyrical themes. In their return, the quartet of punk, doom, noise and rock tested performers give you that again, and more. With "Dissociation Mechanics" – an SY-style christening if ever there was one, by the way – that blend is all out on beautiful, chaotic display.

Wild Rocket's return is centered musically around several concepts, including the sea and deep space, as metaphors for cultural and global destruction. Effects laden vocals convey the depressive mood and the churning rhythm section, not to mention Jon Kelly's synthesizer work, make those stories feel like they're closing in on you. The listener has such a tempo on tracks like "The Future Holds" – steady, thick and swirling it is, among others.

"Dissociation Mechanics" is available here:

Band info: bandcamp || facebook