Bunker – Tracklisting
1.Sausage Roll 08:08
2.Rain 10:05
3.Hollow Man 06:58
4.U-96 05:08
5.Pyramid 05:40
6.Elephant 14:47
7.Bunker 07:18
Members
Andy Glen - Bass, vocals
Leo Hancill - Drums, vocals
Review
Bunker is the debut album UK Sludge/Doom Duo PAK40 and it sees the band have a heavy reliance on Drone and Noise Rock to get their industrially raw message across. The album is quite experimental and heavily distorted with PAK40 delivering almost 60 minutes of Sludge/Doom Metal madness with an eerie Garage Rock atmosphere.
Helping them along the way is Esben Williams of MONOLORD fame who helped master the album which is also backed by fantastic work Niklas Pietsch and Christian 'Krischan' Deimel who produced, recorded and mixed the album. This gives the album an almost “Street Level” and “Dirty” feel. Some folks may think the album is too slow moving in places but it allows the listener to soak everything that is played in front of them.
The opening two songs – Sausage Roll and Rain – are progressive and experimental with PAK40 offering a fine balance between Industrial based Doom, Drone and Sludge Metal with that Noise Rock balance holding everything together. With this also being a Drum and Bass duo, the grooves are powerful and plentiful that seem to last an age. The music does have a “Stoner Metal” quality to it all and I can see why these guys have been compared to OM recently. As they do create long passages of post-Doom/Stoner music which then explodes into a loud volume of noise.
If you don’t like the opening two songs then you won’t enjoy the rest of the album. As PAK40 only become BOLDER and more ADVENTUROUS with the style of music they adapt and use for the rest of the album with Hollow Man, Pyramid, Elephant and Bunker featuring the most “conventional” and “experimental” music on the record.
There is also a warped Psychedelia effect hidden behind the heavy sludgy grooves with PAK40 adding clever FX sounds that bring a fresh air of despair to the album.
If you dig bands such as OM, The Melvins and Big Business then PAK40 have delivered an album just for you. The record maybe confusing at times but it’s never boring. This is an OTT album that delivers the goods. Just be prepared to work hard for your musical “HEAD-BANGING” reward.
Excellent and Highly Recommended.
Words by Steve Howe
Available on Cassette via Panurus Productions and CD via Inverted Grim Mill Recordings
