71TonMan – Earthwreck – Album Review

Heavy, lumbering, dense and severely lacking in anything resembling finesse, 71TonMan is an apt name for a band who crush all in their path. Can you guess what kinda music they play? Yeah, you probably guessed right, we’re in sludge metal/doom metal territory and that territory happens to be Poland.

Releasing their debut back in 2013, 71TonMan are now back to level entire cities with their band of punishing dissonance, that’s mostly played at sloth-like speeds, and fans of Eyehategod and Primitive Man will probably wet their already crusty pants at the ‘music’ available here.

Gargling away like a man with permanent tonsillitis, frontman K.K screams and growls with vigour and his heavily accented utterances only add to the suffocatingly soupy atmosphere conjured throughout Earthwreck.

While song lengths are ridiculously long, the likes of “Phobia” and “Zero” are feedback drenched descents into the abyss and through sheer power alone, they remain focused and, more importantly, they remain interesting. While Eyehateod and Primitive Man are reference points, 71TonMan are actually more nuanced, adding layers to their sound via carefully controlled intros before assuming the role of conqueror as death/doom riffs slam down hard.

As heavy as you’d expect a 71 ton man to be, Earthwreck presents itself as an album of considerable force and considerable power; an earth-wrecker indeed! 7/10

EARTHWRECK is a-coming. The record will be released digitally via Black Bow Records on 22nd of September.