Howl

Full Of Hell

Written by: MT on 16/05/2010 14:36:41

The often slow but consistently heavy mastodonic beatings of sludge metal works in two ways for the bands playing it. Either they can retain the interest of the listener with great songwriting, or it gets very quickly boring. I can't say that I've heard a lot of sludge metal for a while so I was keen to hear what this American quartet had to offer on their latest release "Full Of Hell".

The sound is venomous and raw. It's the soundtrack to your worst nightmare as it oozes pure black magic evil. The diminished guitar chords pioneered by Black Sabbath, who have had a huge influence on sludge and doom, creates a dissonant and dark atmosphere. The band is clearly influenced as much by old Swedish death metal in the vein of Entombed as they are their native southern rock and blues. A good concoction and I like what I am hearing so far.

As the album progresses, it seems that Howl is stuck in the same tempo and tuning, making it a very monotonous listening experience. Despite it's great sound, the album feels uninspired as every song seems like a rendition of the last. The last song is a desperate 10 min wallow and its great length takes away the effectiveness of the song. They have the balls and make some pretty heavy tunes, but these are unfortunately not as heavy as they could be because they are shoulder to shoulder with other tracks that sound the same. With a little variety injected into the sound to make the songs more memorable, this band could go far. "Full Of Hell" may satisfy hardcore-sludge fans but falls a little short on the songwriting part to really grab my attention.

Download: Horns Of Steel, You Jackals Beware, Jezebel
For The Fans Of: Sludge metal
Listen: Myspace

Release Date 11.05.2010
Relapse Records


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