Desolate Anguish is a band from Tennessee. I cannot really describe their exact genre because they combine many different sounds to form their own unique music. There's some doom, noise, and punk. I really dig it a lot because punk just so happen to be my favorite genre and it's nice to hear some chaotic sounds incorporated in the music. This demo consists only three songs and the longest track clocks at over 12 minutes and shortest track is a little over 3 minutes long. That's some nice variety of lengths which I dig because sometimes I wanted to hear a short track and sometimes I like to sit down and truly listen to the longer tracks. The punk influence truly shines in the riffs and you can really hear the gritty and dirty style being shown in the guitar riffs which is my favorite part. The vocals is very screeching and normally that would annoy me but it really fits the music very well so I don't really mind as much as I normally would. They displayed their doom/sludge side in the construction of the songs. You can hear how things slow down as they enter the breakdowns and how heavy this sounds really are. They definitely have something special here and I am really excited to see what they will do and I was told by the band that they are entering studio very soon so they should have something new sometimes this year. I definitely recommend this for any people who dig the sludge style and punk as well. If you dig both as I do then you will really love this one.


Best Song: Traitor-Love this track- full of punky riffs and perfect mix of punk and sludge being shredded in the blender.

Worst Song: All That A Man Has He Will Give To Save His Own Life- great track but does get bit repetitive for my taste and this is where the vocals annoy me sometimes as well.

Score: 8/10- great demo and really make me looking forward to whatever they plan to spit out this year.


http://www.myspace.com/4desolateanguish

Labels: desolate anguish, noise, punk, review, sludge metal, tennessee metal

Burden is a German sludge rock band and they released a 3 song EP called "The Fool". The sound is very southern and remind me a lot of Corrosion of Conformity at least vocally. That's not necessarily a bad thing but don't expect to hear anything new. What I really dig about this stuff is it's very catchy and I can detect some blues influences which I really love when bands do that. I will give them points for that.

I have to admit I hate it when the band put out an EP that is only 3 songs long. Just call it a demo for Pete's sake. The sound is also a little bit too fuzzy for my taste and it kinda make the songs a bit less catchy than it could be with more polished mastering. The bass kinda got lost in the noise which I really don't like. I'm a bass frenzy and I want to be able to hear bass just as clearly as rest of the instruments. However the EP definitely show some promise. It's for anyone who dig some sludge-y rock that's catchy as well.

Score: 6.5/10

Best Song: "Bottled Betrayal"-very catchy and I really can see the band's potential in this song.

Worst Song: "The Fool"- the album title track that could be much better with good mastering. The sound is too fuzzy and I didn't enjoy it as much as rest of the other songs.

http://www.myspace.com/listentoburden

Labels: burden, corrosion of conformity, german, hard rock, review, sludge metal

Doom Metal Alliance is one of the biggest supporter of the Doom scene. If you are into Doom and still haven't heard of this then you better get your butt out of the rock and check it out. They release a sampler every now and then and this is their 9th one. I have to say this is my favorite sampler so far because of a high amount of excellent bands that deserve more recognition. The sampler consist of not just Doom but Drone, some Post Rock, Ambient, Sludge, and more. All the samplers are free for download so I'm telling you it won't hurt to check it out. I know nobody would say no to free music.

Best song: Yidhra - The Lament Of Longinus (killer song and I'm really into this band now thanks to the sampler)

Worst song: Destino Entierro - The Alcholichrist (pretty decent but I prefer the other songs than this one)


Score: 8.5/10


Download here

Labels: ambient, doom, doom metal alliance, drone, post rock, review, sampler, sludge metal

Second full length by Baroness, a progressive Sludge Metal band who are famous for the masterpiece, "Red Album" and they definitely doesn't disappointed me with this album. To be honest, I'm absolutely thrilled they decide not to make the exact same album as "Red Album" because then that would be bit...stale. They change their style a bit in this album and become more fun and catchy.

This album is much more progressive and focus more on the song structure. There's some repetition throughout the album and that is a good thing. I liked the fact I'm able to hear some amazing riffs over again and again yet at same time it's not occurring so often because there is some variety as well. The vocals is not the best and when I first heard the vocals I was taken aback at first because I'm not used to that. However, I gotten used and start to really appreciate the style. It actually really fit the music really well. It's definitely not for everyone but if you either enjoy the style or can get past it then you will absolutely adore this stuff. One thing that I really dig a lot is that blues feeling hidden in there somewhere... It's there but not quite there at same time so if you kept listening to the album over and over again then you will detect it like I did.

Best Song: "A Horse Called Golgotha" such a killer song and my favorite Baroness song. Killer chorus and just amazing vocals, guitar riffs, drumming...heck it's nearly perfect song. I don't want to say it's perfect because perfection doesn't exit but this is pretty darn close!

Worst Song: none...I can't pick which is the worst because this is such a killer album and I can't bring myself to pick a song and call it "worst song" out of the tracklist.

Score:10/10- Yes I gave it a ten...it's definitely album of the year for me and quite possibly of the decade. It's up there on my top ten favorite album of all time....but I need to give it some time to see if it will pass the test of time which I am pretty sure it will.


www.myspace.com/yourbaroness

Labels: 80s metal, baroness, progressive metal, review, sludge metal