“Loathe” is the third recording of Dusseldorf based sludge trio Nightslug and has been released by Lost Pilgrims Records. The album provides a bit more than 30 minutes of heavily distorted music. It all starts with guitar feedback sounds and a slowly punching bass. Combined with a monotone speech in the typical style of a documentary film, it quickly evolves into screaming and the fuzzy bass of “Vile Pigs”.
After a nice foreplay which shows what we can expect from this record, the album moves into the title track, which is definitely the best piece of the album. ‘Loathe’ provides a nice, fast (for the sludge music characteristics), upbeat rhythm which easily catches the listener’s ear. This if the kind of song for a headbanger to enjoy. The guitar and bass riffs sound heavy, deep, dark and crushing. After fastening even more with the chaotic “Under a Bane” things change. It has been pretty easy to digest so far. After this, the band takes us into a much slower and darker zone. ‘Disease’ is the strongest track of this slower part, starting with pure bass and drum combination assisted by a guitar which, at first, is shy and hidden. But afterwards it explodes into powerful dose of distortion and noise. Every note, every drum hit is like a punch in the face. The album ends with another slow, yet catchy ‘Tainted throne’ which lacks just another kick in the guts to be as good as the title track.
‘Loathe’ can easily be classified as a strong position for all sludge metal fans. It has a strong opening and finish, with bit weaker middle part of the record. The vocals feature an interesting lo-fi effect and are a combination of black and death metal growling, which totally suits the overall mood. The vocals are moved a bit to the back, behind all the noise created by the nicely exposed drums and bass that establish the pounding foundation of Nightslug’s heavy sound. The whole atmosphere is dark, breathtakingly heavy and slow. But in this case, slow is good. A Nightslug album is like old iron train – heavy, slow, loud, full of squeaky noises, but always pushing forward.
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