Reviews: Mastiff, Lumbar, Hollow Leg, Mo'ynoq (Paul H & Paul S)

Mastiff are a 5 piece from Hull, who, according to their Facebook page, play hardcore, doom and sludge. Mastiff are clearly a band who do not indulge in false advertising as that is a perfect description of what is on offer on Plague. After a dissonant intro, first track Hellcircle kicks the album off with fast, simple hardcore. The song slows down for the final third and is crushingly heavy. Next track Bubonic is a fantastically nasty piece of sludge. The riffs drip with tri-tones, the track has a feel that I associate with Autopsy’s slower, more putrid material, maybe a little of Bolt Throwers slow and nasty as well. Brainbleed is only one minute twenty seconds, but manages to have an insanely fast hardcore part, and a sickeningly slow and heavy ending. Next we slow it down again for Quarantine, which has a huge groove laden feel, it’s impossible to not bang your head to this one; I tried keeping my head still and damn near broke my neck. Vermin is another mainly slow track, which has an aggressive, driving rhythm. The song is as unstoppable as continental drift, feels like a runaway bulldozer. 

Torture follows the fast aggressive intro, going into a sickeningly slow ending pattern that has been used on a few tracks, however the slow part isn’t as smooth as the rest of the slow material, the riffs stagger and stumble, before coming together for an incredibly powerful ending. This gives the song an interesting rhythmic style that makes the track stand out. Weep batters the listener before descending into lurching, dissonant riffs. This is a decidedly nasty piece of work. The album ends with Black Death, one of the heaviest pieces of doom/sludge that I have ever heard, achingly slow and heavy. The final track finishes off the listener by slowly pounding them into the ground. This track is monolithically huge, and heavier than a neutron star, I have genuinely not heard anything quite as heavy as this; in fact, if anyone ever asks you for a definition of what ‘Heavy’ is as a word to describe music, just play them this song. 

Plague is a fantastic album. Intense, aggressive, pounding, huge and furiously angry. The mix of fast and crushingly slow works very well, mainly because the intensity and anger does not diminish when the songs slow down, if anything it only makes the songs more intense. This album is almost certainly going to be in all the Best of the year lists in 11 months time. 9/10

Lumbar: The First And Last Days Of Unwelcome (Argonauta Records 2019 Re-Release) [Paul S]

Lumbar is (or maybe I should say was, as this is a re-release, The First And Last Days Of Unwelcome was originally released in 2013) Aaron Edge (Bible Black Tyrant, Ramprasad, Iamthethorn, Brothers Of The Sonic Cloth and so many other bands I couldn’t possibly type them all out), Tad Doyle (Tad, Brothers Of The Sonic Cloth) and Mike Scheidt (Yob, Middian, Vhol). This album couldn’t have been an easy thing to record, considering the circumstances of when it was recorded. Multi-instrumentalist Aaron Edge had just been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (the band name Lumbar, comes from Edge having to have 3 Lumbar punctures in order for a diagnosis to be made), and was not sure if he was going to be able to keep on making music (happily he has been able to continue his career in music, and has a number of projects on the go at the moment). However, whilst this album was being made that fact was not yet apparent. The album has 7 songs, titled Day 1, Day 2 etc. 

The main style on the album is sludgy doom, with some interesting experimental parts. Day 1 starts with a sample from The Twilight Zone before crashing into some massive doom metal that is a little reminiscent of Electric Wizard, Ufomammut or possibly a little of Lee Dorian's current doom project With The Dead. Mike Scheidt’s very recognisable howl, cuts through the dense de-tuned riffs, the song sounds as if it is in pain, in places the track has layered vocals that seem to emphasise this. Day 2 is slow and lurching, the 2 vocals feel angry rather than in pain. I should point out that this is also a short track, coming in at less than 3 minutes. In fact. 4 out of the 7 songs on The First And Last Days Of Unwelcome are less than 3 minutes long (Days 2,3,4,5). Day 3 is an experimental track that is guitar and bass fragments looped, with shouted vocals and no drums or beat of any kind. Day 4 is short and angry. The drums are at the fore for this track, in places it is just drums and vocals. The song has a very heavy ending with nasty guttural vocals. 

Day 5 is another experimental track, it feels droney and dreamlike, with whispered vocals. Day 6 is another aggressive doom track, slow, but with a driving rhythm, and very distinctive vocals from Mike Scheidt. Day 7 draws the album to a close with a melancholy, but still dense and aggressive piece of doom. There is a similarity with the first track. The ending of Day 7 is drawn out and slow, dissonant chords getting slower and more diffident until the track fades out. The First And Last Days Of Unwelcome is a great album, born out of difficult circumstances. Although it isn’t very long (the whole album comes in at 25 minutes), it is a very interesting beast, with depth and great songwriting. I’m very glad that Aaron Edge has been able to continue to make music, as more of this may be a possibility. Highly recommended! 8/10

Hollow Leg: Civilizations (Argonauata Records) [Paul H]

Civilizations is album number four from Florida sludge outfit Hollow Leg. Hollow Leg are not a band I have heard previously but with sludge seemingly being the ‘in thing’ in metal these days there are bands popping out of the woodwork all over the place and it’s hard to keep up. Hollow Leg play a very run of the mill style of sludge metal which means they don’t really stand out too much. They sound is also quite relaxed in comparison to the heavyweights of the genre with Hollow Leg relying more on atmosphere than sonic devastation. This does mean that this album is fairly forgettable as I like my sludge crushing, devastating and utterly filthy. There are some very nice riffs and grooves through Civilizations but beyond that it’s very much sludge by the numbers. It’s nice background music but there are bands doing what Hollow Leg do far better. Not a bad album just a fairly uninspired one. 6/10

Mo’ynoq: Dreaming In A Dead Language (Self Released) [Paul H]

Mo’ynoq impress with Dreaming In A Dead Language which is the debut album by the North Carolina black metallers. Black metal can be a very difficult subgenre and Mo’ynoq have crafted an album that definitely requires multiple listens to fully get your head around. It’s an extremely ferocious album full of discord, dissonance and labyrinthine song structures. It deftly balances the chaotic and atmospheric natures of black metal with songs that envelop and suffocate your senses. 

Melodic moments are few and far between but when they appear you have enough time to gasp for air before once more plunging into the suffocating darkness. This approach is most effective in songs such as These Once Tranquil Grounds, Carve My Name and ferocious opener Empyreal Decay. Dreaming In A Dead Language is not an easy album to get into but it’s one that’s definitely worthwhile once you’re there and Mo’ynoq prove themselves to be a worthy addition to the flourishing US black metal scene. 8/10