Torche // “Keep Up”

Here’s a brand new track from Southern sludge metal crew Torche. After last year’s most excellent Harmonicraft I’ve been eagerly anticipating hearing some new material from the energetic band. “Keep Up” is the A-side from their upcoming 7” with Volcom Entertainment and it does not disappoint.

The track is pretty laid-back compared to their previous material. They also tone back any residual sugar high left over from Harmonicraft’s candy-coated stoner pop. For the first 3/4’s of the track it’s pretty much just a straightforward yet reliable headbanger with a modest tempo. Then in true form the band breaks things down in its final moments for some pounding sludge and electrifying solo guitar work. It’s another catchy track from a metal band who isn’t afraid to be just that. 

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HOMEPAGE | FACEBOOK

 

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Stallone // American Baby

Some might say that Juan Montoya’s departure from Torche is what so drastically affected their sound going into Harmonicraft. I don’t know how much affect his absence had, but it doesn’t really matter because they seem to be doing just fine without him. Plus now we have the punching, adrenaline-fueled Stallone running amok without a leash and that can only be a good thing.

From the very first few seconds of their second EP American Baby Stallone stamp their foot down hard on the gas pedal and don’t really let up until the tank is empty and the EP has come to a close. They make the presence of a vocalist superfluous by filling any voids with raging guitar solos, monstrous riffs, and ridiculous drum fills. This is metal for the sludge-and-stoner-loving purist and it doesn’t disappoint in the least. Man, two EP’s in and Stallone are proving their salt, I can only imagine how awesome things will get from here. 

American Baby is available now from Limited Fanfare Records

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BANDCAMP | FACEBOOK

 

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Titan // Burn

I love sludge metal, but I was afraid that maybe the genre was getting soft. Last year, Mastodon turned a few heads by making The Hunter their most accessible album to date (at the expense of quality in my opinion). Then this year Torche dropped the sugary confection that is Harmonicraft on the world, inspiring some to call the album sludge pop or stoner pop. And now next month my favorite sludge outfit Baroness is set to drop their long-awaited double album Yellow & Green, which, based on what we’ve heard so far, will probably be their poppiest album to date. Is softer side of sludge becoming a trend? Not if Toronto band Titan has anything to say about it.

The band has recently dropped their mammoth album Burn on the world and what a wonderfully diverse and heavy album it is! Now while this isn’t straight sludge metal, it certainly bears enough of the scars to carry the description. Nestling right in that soft spot between doom metal and hardcore punk, Burn is a work of crushing weight. The monstrous guitars, primal vocals, and relentless percussion create this inescapable hailstorm of noise. Everything that goes into the soup here does its job to earn the band the name Titan. 

It’s an excellent album that I can’t recommend enough. It’s being offered as a free download courtesy of a new Toronto metal label called Hypæthral Records. 

(via Equivoke)

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HOMEPAGE | BANDCAMP | FACEBOOK | TWITTER

 

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Consular // Allapattah Blues

This post came about because of two reasons. Reason #1: I am making a concerted effort to share more metal on my blog because it’s a pretty big part of my life and I want you to like it too. Reason #2: I am basically going out of my mind insane waiting for this new Mastodon album and so I scoured bandcamp for literally hours searching for something to soothe my aching, sludge-metal-lovin soul. Well I’ll be darned if Consular didn’t scratch that itch and then some.

Scrolling through bandcamp the first thing you notice is the album artwork. When I saw a picture of a cute little girl eating a spider I knew I had to check it out and boy am I glad that I did! This album is raw, brutal, and so totally unhinged. While I would primarily tag these dudes as sludge, they don’t just stop there. No they bring in slices of doom, thrash, and stoner metal for a big violent group hug. But be warned, even though these guys are definitely into having good times (seriously, just check out that cover!) this is some dark, dark stuff. What makes it work though is that they pull it off in a sort of tongue-in-cheek way. On their bandcamp they even preface the lyrics for one of the songs with “this song is totally un underrstandable”… Ha! Those guys.

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BANDCAMP | MYSPACE | FACEBOOK

 

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