Saturday 3 November 2018

UNDER - Stop Being Naive (Album Review)


Release date: October 26th 2018. Label: APF Records. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl

Stop Being Naive – Tracklisting

1.Malcontents 07:46
2.The Climb 04:41
3.Traitor's Gate 06:38
4.Big Joke 05:54
5.P. Irving 04:23
6.Grave Diggers 04:28
7.Happy 02:53
8.An Inch Of Sun 06:03
9.Circadian Driftwood 04:31

Members

Andy Preece - drums, vocals, keys
Matt Franklin - bass, vocals
Simon Mayo - guitar, vocal

Review

It’s been 18 months since UNDER released their debut album – Slick and now this brutally filthy and heavy power-trio return with their epic offering – Stop Being Naive. UNDER carry on the their heavy distorted brutality they crafted on their debut album but with a more gloomier outlook. Sounding like the bastard offspring of The Melvins and Torche, UNDER continue to impress with distorted progressive sludge grooves that have a bleak vision and feel to them.

The vocals are a mixture of clean and distorted growls which you’ll either love or hate. There is no middle ground with UNDER. You either love them or hate them. Choose a side as this album will make you love the band even more or make you run screaming into the opposite direction. Stop Being Naive isn’t your most straightforward album to listen. As UNDER create a dark vortex of different riffs and noises that have a surreal nightmarish quality to them.

The opening track Malcontents is a Melvins/Torche tyle song with heavy industrial/doom based guitars that pulls no punches with it’s undeniable dark themes and lyrics to match. The experimental sounds can take some time to fully get used to but you have to admire UNDER creative vision they take with this album and this song is perfect proof that you’re in for a wild ride.

Stop Being Naive is a more complex and progressive album than SLICK. As the band try their hand playing different sounds on this album. Psych, Acid Rock and Prog Rock have been added to the mix and the results are majorly FUCKED UP but UNDER never let this stop them creating some truly hard-rocking moments of top-notch Sludge/Noise/Stoner Rock riffage.

Songs such as The Climb, Traitor’s Gate, P. Irving, and An Inch Of Sun are the tracks where UNDER impress the most. As they play their through some of the albums heaviest and weirdest sounds. Even when the calmer aspects of the album appear UNDER manage to find a way to still mess up your world with even more distorted industrial nightmarish sounds and the overall feel of the album leaves you in a shattered state.

Maybe that’s the point with UNDER. They want to make you feel uncomfortable listening to this album. They pulled this trick on their last album. However it’s with this album that UNDER have gone even further by creating an album that exposes some of the darkest and filthiest sounds from the Doom/Sludge/Stoner Metal scene you’ll likely to hear this year.

Stop Being Naive is another superb album from UNDER and showcases why these guys could be serious contenders in the UK Doom/Sludge Metal scene in the years to come. If you’re in the mood for a dark slice of Experimental and even Avant Garde Sludge/Doom/Stoner Metal then STOP BEING NAIVE and listen to this great album now.

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Polymath PR for the promo. Stop Being Naive is available to buy on CD/DD/Vinyl now via APF Records.

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