Release
date: February 26th 2016. Label: Holy Roar Records. Format:
CD/DD/Vinyl
Rise
Of The Dawncrusher – Tracklisting
1.Mercenary
Blues
2.Evacuate!
3.Shrine
of Debauchery
4.Dawncrusher
Rising
5.Implosion
Rites
Band
Members:
Sam
Thredder - Guitar/Grunts
Yusuf
Tary - Bass/Shrieks
Jack
Newnham - Drums/G-Ride
Review:
6
years, 3 drummers, 1 collapsed lung and several defining festival
performances later Slabdragger are back with the follow up to 2010's
"Regress" debut and what a follow up it is.
5
tracks delivered in one hour of what we here at Outlaws are already
claiming will be one of if not THE album of the year. And it's only
ruddy February.....
If
you've seen Slabdragger live in the last couple of years then you've
heard the first track "Mercenary Blues" which slides out of
the speakers with ease starting with a groove laden opening riff, and
some of the best clean vocals I've heard in a long time courtesy of
bassist/vocalist Yusuf Tary, before the intensity and the pace of the
track pick up, battering the listener with some of that trademark
Slabdragger filth, as both Yusuf and guitarist/vocalist and the
thankfully indestructible Sam Thredder swap vocals, the higher
pitched almost Catton-esque howls of the former sitting nicely
alongside the low guttural roars of the the latter.
Up
next "Evacute!" - the shortest track on the album which
doesn't even reach the five minute mark. It's an absolute monster and
if you missed the Terrorizer stream of it, you can head over the
bands Bandcamp page and stream it, whilst you pre order the album
here.
"Shrine
Of Debauchery" is the third track is for me the stand out track
of the album, starting with some faintly distorted guitar, feedback
and some hypnotic, tribal drums, and that distinctive bass before the
track kicks in in earnest around the two and a half minute mark on a
riff, that I promise you is going to cause casualties at gigs and
festivals all over the country and beyond when it gets a live outing.
It's
disgustingly heavy and I have no idea why, but it conjures up an
image in my mind, that if Nile were a sludge band this is the kind of
filth they would be playing.
The
track rumbles on chopping between heavy and quiet, fast and slow
until it settles back into the opening riff, which gradually slows
with the haunting chanted vocal "Dawncrusher" over the top.
This song has got stuck in my head, and I promise it will do the same
to you.
The
last two tracks "Dawncrusher Rising" and "Implosion
Rites" both clocking in at over a monstorous 15 minutes, feature
more of the bold, confident swagger of a band who know they are just
about to deliver one of the standout albums of the year.
"Rise
Of The Dawncrusher" may have been a long time in the making, in
a day and age where a lot of their contemporaries are releasing
albums, EP's and splits at a rate of knots, but Slabdragger are
proving the old cliche that it really is: Quality Not Quantity That
Counts.
A
sublime release, worthy of the wait and worthy of all the praise that
is being heaped on to their shoulders, go and pre-order it and if
you're able to get to one their tour dates in February with OHHMS
make sure you don't miss out on that either......
Words
by Simon Ross Williams
Thanks
to Holy Roar Records and Claire at Purple Sage PR for the promo. Rise
Of The Dawncrusher will be available to buy on CD/DD/Vinyl from HolyRoar Records from February 26th 2016.
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