Grey Widow / Sons Of Tonatiuh – Split Release Review

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Sludge; the name alone intimates the sonically messy and far removed from the glissando-born gloss of symphonic  and power metal genres. While those sub-genres soar into blue pristine skies – where fresh air abounds and triumphant melodies prance around as sacrosanct pegasi – the crushing viscous heaviosity of Sludge plummets you quickly below to the earth. A realm thick with acrid smoke awaits with a landscape littered with countless bones laying forlorn by a fathomless pit of bile-ridden muck and mire. This is the land of Sludge. A kingdom where sludge-merchants Grey Widow and Sons Of Tonatiuh hold court and on their split EP both bands offer an unapologetic look into their world where guitar riffs are painfully slow, equally angry and the bass is low and demonically distorted.

The first two songs are of Grey Widow’s design; a long, drawn-out affair of tonal indolence. The first song “X” begins with only the drums banging out a lethargic rhythm for the first minute and fifteen seconds of the song until the guitars join in with a cacophonous drone that sets the tone for the entire track. While “X” is dark ambient music for the Metal head, the second composition, “Obey”, is somewhat faster and exhibits a Doom Metal groove not unlike early Crowbar. The vocals on both songs are exceedingly tortured as if demons from Caina were imprisoning the vocalist in ice.

Sons Of Tonatiuh add a parcel of melody to the opening moments of their first song “Skull File” and show a rather prominent Man Is The Bastard influence. Unrefined grooves and blackened riffs are the norm here as the vocals belt out cries of larynx-shredding angst. With three songs of their own on this Ep, Sons Of Tonatiuh offer the listener a triple dose of tried and true blackened riffs but with very little ground broken.

This split album is for the sludge collectors and aficionados. With no intention of sonic variance, both bands stand firmly entrenched in the Blackened Sludge genre, unrepentant and proud of the atonal lacerations and purposely-exacted pain they deliver. 6/10