Belgian sludge/doom combo A Thousand Sufferings could never be accused to doing things half-heartedly. Sludge has always taken the nuts and bolts of Black Sabbath and slowed it and heavied it’s very essence to it’s logical extreme. A Thousand Sufferings, at first, seem to go one better, as even ‘Once In A Blue Moon’, a spoken intro, appears to adopt the sludge/doom ethos, as the band take what would have been a brief sample from TV drama ‘The Americans’, but play it back at half speed. The effect of hearing synth music, the sounds of helicopters and human voices played back at a much slower speed can be unsettling. The fact that one of the characters is halfway through a monologue regarding the chain of nature and mortality makes it all the more disquieting. It makes for a very slow and potentially quite grim three minutes. With this intro, the band builds tension in a really obtuse manner and the three proper tracks which follow – sprawling across over half an hour – are just as oppressive.
Tag Archives: sludge
HERSCHER – Herscher
Herscher are practicioners of a rather mean and lo-fi brand of doom metal, the kind that’s so intense that makes your average doom band sound like they’re gearing up to play a few Boney M covers and then bed down for a late night at about 7pm. On the bulk of this third release, this French trio are so frighteningly robust, it’s a genuine challenge to get through the near forty minute playing time in one hit. Depending on how much you love your doom and sludge, of course, this could turn out to a be a very positive thing.
PINEAL – Smiling Cult EP
Putting it bluntly, Pineal aren’t exactly shy with regard to their core influences on this release. Although their recording budget occasionally shows a few limitations, this London-based trio really love Alice In Chains. Their stock riffs are never a straight up reconstruction of the AIC sound, though, since most of the heavier elements are more of a doom-rock persuasion, much slower in pace than AIC at their most sludgy…and certainly much heavier in many respects. Any Alice In Chains homages are due to Daniel Murney‘s vocal style which – in more than a few places – really taps into Layne Staley’s trademark spooked out, nasal croon.