Genre: Doom/Sludge Metal

Track Listing:

01 Wreck Of The Hesperus - Raw Sewage Heart
02 De Novissimis - Worthy Of Nothing

This is an absolutely insane and crucial record of Dublin Doom Sludge from the heavy metal literary maniacs at Stitchy Press, located in Leitrim, Ireland. Wreck Of The Hesperus is the most tranced-out of the two, the entire side-length track being blanketed by an eerie and dissonant bass throb in a ghostly blue tone. The vocals of WOTH are the most otherworldly of either groups featured on this platter. Inhumanly slow repetitions of a central theme (one repeating riff, and the odd bass hum) provide a platform for an exorcism-grade vocal performance. Caveman-like, the track bludgeons the doom throne repeatedly with a stoned resolve. The track never explodes into an emotional frenzy, and does not deviate from the basic theme of complete and total life-destroying doom madness. This music is so awe-inspiringly slow, there are moments where it sounds as if the band has actually gotten up and walked away, allowing the instruments to continue the effort by themselves. I'm not sure if you people realized how much of a presence Doom has in Ireland, land of Thin Lizzy and Druids, but hopefully this 10" record will help to set the record straight. This crushing example "Raw Sewage Heart" is unforgettable and transcendent, perhaps one of my favorite tracks that I have ever heard to fall under the Doom moniker.

Much of the effort of this sort of music is oriented toward evoking the ancient spirits and so forth, and there are not many better places than Ireland to evoke these foul beings. Although the countryside is beautiful, and the people hospitable and friendly, there is a strange power that thrives in the forests and mists its way down to the rest of the country. The utter captivity by water, the surrounding mountains, altogether adding up to a landscape perfect for the cultivation of doom metal. Dublin itself is famously filled with malcontents and rogues, and the canals carry in them the memories of many forgotten horrors. Every town has its former hangman, every town has its plague story. The life blood of the people run through the canal waters, and this record is the slippery and sludgy sound of that lifes-blood slipping away and then starting over again. I wish that this record was a 12" and not a 10", but it works perfectly well as a "little guy."

De Novissimus, although certainly doom/sludge in style, provide a more dynamic and less trance-like take on the genre. There are certainly no shortage of drones, but the amount of riffs on the De Novissimus side appears similar to the Herculean effort of 1970's progressive rock compared to the non-stop destructive plod-and-annihilate momentum of the mighty Wreck Of The Hesperus. The track changes multiple times, and the group adds in many plaintive and atmospheric guitar sections that are more akin to the Black Metal genre, whereas the vocals have somewhat of the flavor of the best of the crusty hardcore punk genre (Amebix, Nausea, Doom, etc). In a way, this band reminds me of the excellent and somewhat forgotten Damad from Savannah, Georgia (an amazing American crusty band, some of whom found later acclaim in the also high-quality Kylesa). The ending is a powerhouse, and for maximum effect, I would listen to the record in the order listed above, although both bands are equally awesome. WOTH is more my style of doom, just total disregard for civility and complete sound worship, but the compositional efforts of DN cannot be denied here on this great release. If you can find a copy of this, get it and your life will be greatly enriched. This is fantastic, unbeatable doom metal from the land of leprechauns and James Joyce.