There’s sludge metal that simply rearranges Black Sabbath riffs at the pace of tree sap through a veil of unwashed dreadlocks. Then there’s sludge that makes you feel like a white-hot, filthy Satanic mess. Los Angeles’ Seven Sisters Of Sleep will get lumped alongside Crowbar, Iron Monkey or even early Kylesa, but there’s something infinitely more nefariousness at work.
It starts with the monstrously precipitous guitar tone reminiscent of a tsunami crashing into Hong Kong’s skyline and continues with impressive diversity. Not content to rehash the lurching stoner shuffle of their heroes, SSOS tack a real sense of impending doom on one hand (Recitation Fire) before turning things inside out with devilish hardcore doom disguised as a petrol-soaked blowtorch factory (Grindstone), both sides of the band featuring as much vitriol as infectious appeal.
SSOS have delivered a triumphant classic that’ll stand proudly alongside, if not surpass, the Eyehategods and Buzzov•ens of our dirty world.
