TOP 16 ALBUMS: The Sour 16 (August 2017)

With English winter ending in July and commencing again in August, the summer as we know it, is over!  Now as we enter September, the sunshine may waver, but one constant source of light, is the inspiring music we embrace and celebrate. 

Mike Patton once said “what a day, when you can look it in the face and hold your vomit,” So to make things a little more bearable, allow yourself to indulge in a hefty dose of medicine, because it is time to present 16 of the best albums from August, it is time for your SOUR 16.

You know the drill by now, each month you the reader are unwittingly compiling a list of the top 16 records of the month, covering all genres of metal.  Is it not a chart, in which reviewers or contributors extol their opinion about their favourite music.  To put it simply, THE SOUR 16 are the records that have been trending the most at SLUDGELORD HQ.

The results are compiled based upon the amount of page views the reviews have received and are then calibrated into the list below. 

16). Cult of Erinyes - ‘Tiberivs’ (387)

In short, ‘Tiberivs’ is fully realized and wonderfully executed. Any black metal fans sleeping on this album are doing themselves a real disservice.

15). Mudbath - "Brine Pool" (397)

While firmly a doom metal group, Mudbath is not afraid to introduce different elements. With a shrieking vocal approach reminiscent of black metal and flourishes you might otherwise associate with drone, Mudbath manages to make it work.

14). Dead Cross - "Dead Cross" (405)

While Dead Cross don’t quite deliver the all-out face-melting insanity you may expect from their constituent parts, this debut is still an exhilarating burst of queasy punk rock mayhem that reminds most young pretenders who’s in charge.

13). Timeworn - "Venomous High" (408)

Some of the most engaging moments on “Venomous High” come when Timeworn move slightly away from their core sound.  “All Chiefs” finds the band at their most unhinged as they unleash an arsenal of spidery math-metal riffs with breakneck rock’n’roll abandon. Anyone missing Swiss behemoths Kruger will find a lot to enjoy in this killer track. “Venomous High” is a fine offering from Timeworn that takes an array of well-worn modern metal influencesand blows them up on a grand scale.

 12). Nidingr - "The High Heat Licks Against Heaven" (414)

Given the amount of average extreme music that is available, Nidingr’s release is outstanding for such depth alone.

11). Geezer - “Psychoriffadelia” (424)

Guttural guitars and raunchy drums at the ready. Geezer delivers the intensity of the Melvins, one of the group's inspirations, while giving its own unique spin to stoner rock. While many others try, this is one band that is confident enough to step out and truly make this sound their own.

10). Sunrot - "Sunnata"(480)

Those who take the plunge into “Sunnata” will still be blown away by the fierce musical skill, emotional honesty, and undeniable potential of Sunrot.  Their truly exceptional full-length debut has set a high benchmark that, one hopes, is only the opening chapter of a lengthy, groundbreaking career.

9). Below The Sun - "Alien World" (533)

What you get is nothing short of spectacular. The soundscape intersects multiple metal subgenres, including funeral doom, black metal, drone and post metal. Moods throughout are bleak, as if the rumbling seas of Solaris are flicking gently at your mind and bouncing your hopes and fears to and fro.

8). Blues Funeral - "Awakening" (624)

Close your eyes and you can hear hints of Mountain and Blue Oyster Cult throughout "Awakening." The rolling title track is a true showcase for how these inspirations have shaped the Texasband. Such attention to the details most people probably never notice further ensures a level of quality that may surprise you. Not only is the music masterfully played, but nothing overpowers the composition

7). Red Mountains - "Slow Wander" (658)

...it is so refreshing to find a release that is all at once heavy, accessible and frankly beautiful in its construction.

6). Ledge - "Cold Hard Concrete" (700)

“Cold Hard Concrete" is that uneasy masterpiece you will value even more by year's end.

5). Pyrrhon - "What Passes for Survival" (796)

"What Passes for Survival" is an uncompromising album and you will learn that fast, right out of the gate.  It is impossible to listen to Pyrrhon's magnificent new release, without admiring the band's fearlessness and technical prowess.  This album is exactly what extreme metal doubters need to hear.

4). Weed Demon - "Astrological Passages" (1040)

Weed Demon is quite willing to show they can do a diverse attack that goes beyond a Melvins-ish crunch. It can definitely throttle you with heavy, sludged out guitars and drums. Yet, as you find on "Primordial Genocide" and elsewhere, Weed Demon can go from blasting to burrowing with its arrangements, zipping from fast to slow, metal to a variation on math rock, smoothly.

3). Devil Electric - "Devil Electric" (1097)

Although you'll not find a swerve or anything wildly disparate, Devil Electric is nonetheless entrancing. In particular, the group is guaranteed to energize any fan of heavy blues reminiscent of Black Sabbath, The Allman Brothers and similar bands.

2). Venom Inc. - “Avé” (1128)

This record, is a triumph. Venom Inc. have produced a record more than worthy of the Venom name and it contains some of the best and most “Venom” moments since the early 80's. I cannot praise or recommend this record enough to fans of Venom or just metal in general. The songs, performances and production all deliver.

1). Accept - "The Rise Of Chaos" (1407)

“The Rise of Chaos” is precise, prescient, presented superbly in terms of artwork and production and, more importantly, rocks as hard as anything I have heard this year. A tour de force.

A big thank you as always to our amazing writers, your dedication knows no boundaries and for that I am truly grateful.  August 2017’s SOUR 16 features reviews by:  Richard Maw, Daniel Jackson, Charlie Butler, Mark Ambrose, Mark Tremblay & Ernesto Aguilar

ALBUM REVIEW: Mudbath - "Brine Pool"

By: Ernesto Aguilar

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 2/05/2017

Label: Saka Čost| GPS Prod|

Troffea Records Third-I-Rex |

Grains of Sand Records

While firmly a doom metal group, Mudbath is not afraid to introduce different elements. With a shrieking vocal approach reminiscent of black metal and flourishes you might otherwise associate with drone, Mudbath manages to make it work.

“Brine Pool” CD//DD//LP track listing:

               

1. Burn Brighter

2. End Up Cold

3. Seventh Circle

4. Zone Theory

5. Rejuvenate

6. Fire

The Review:

Doom metal has so many derivatives in part because it has a landscape open to broad interpretations. The morass of guitar, churn of a bass and crack from a drum kit can be shaped to head off in many directions. Thus you see artists like Paradise Lost, Isis, Sunn O))) and many more have their paths illuminated by doom as a foundation, only to establish fully formed reverberations distinct from their progenitor. This happening can be simultaneously joyful and infuriating, exciting or repulsive. You can fill in your own blanks as to who fits the positive as well as the negative ends of that spectrum.

France’s Mudbath is, likely for most listeners, going to be on the positive end.

Now on their third release, the foursome debuted in 2012 with an EP, followed by a 2015 full-length recording and now "Brine Pool," their 2017 presentation. While firmly a doom metal group, Mudbath is not afraid to introduce different elements. With a shrieking vocal approach reminiscent of black metal and flourishes you might otherwise associate with drone, Mudbath manages to make it work.

"Brine Pool"packs the most punch on songs like "Seventh Circle," a reference to Dante’s“Inferno”. There, Dante and Virgil discover the place in Hell intended to punish the violent, from the war-makers to the suicides to the blasphemers and the sodomites. Literary scholars have for decades plumbed the Inferno’s imagery, including its host of gruesome penalties in the Seventh Circle of Hell. It is fitting that this cut is at right about the release’s middle, because it feels like a climax of the despair and foreboding you hear from start to finish. You can almost feel as if the vocals came straight from pools of boiling blood Dante once imagined, or from Pholus, among the Seventh Circle’s patrolling centaurs, himself.

Whereas "Red Desert Orgy," their first release, had at many moments a slower, more raw build, and their "Corrado Zeller" sophomore had implications of dirge, Mudbath’s latest recording finds an intriguing merger of its past and present. The blues influences you might have heard from the band before remain strong on songs like "Fire" and elsewhere. The opening cut "End Up Cold"also launches with that bluesy seethe. Its crescendo, though, suggests a new maturity. The vocals by Mika, Flo and Luke jump out at you methodically. The bass and electronic touches added by Marco enhance the feeling of dread.

Although the songs still contain the rawness of old, there is an evolution afoot for Mudbath. Maybe the group, which had lineup changes in 2013, is just more comfortable in its own skin (insert death metal joke here). Or maybe it’s simply the camaraderie that suddenly blossoms in a new way after many live shows and studio time together. Whatever it is, "Brine Pool" marks an invigorating chapter for the French quartet. One has to be fascinated to see what comes next.

"Brine Pool" is available to buy here

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

TRACK PREMIERE: Avignon's thunderous doom dealers Mudbath deliver a riff conflagration with "Fire"

Two years after the crushing “Corrado Zeller”, Mudbath refine their particular brand of devastation with “Brine Pool”, their second album, where the band's abrasive sludge and thunderous doom are slashed into with onslaughts of black metal and treacherous ambience. Recorded and mixed by Mathieu "Mouffi" Croux (Verdun, Sofy Major...) and mastered by Collin Jordan (Bongripper, Cough, Xiu Xiu), this tempestuous record was designed as a think piece, the deafening contours of which draw a vivid portrait of our idle surroundings and today we can exclusively reveal a brand new track “Fire”for your listening pleasure.

Set for release May 2nd via GPS Prod, Grains of Sand Records, Saka Čost, Troffea Records and Third-I-Rex.  You can preorder the album using the links above and “Fire” is streaming in full below.

Band Info: bandcamp|| facebook