Release Date: July 18th 2025. Record Label: Hibernation Release. Formats: DD/Vinyl
Low Demon - Tracklisting
1. Dredged - 04:25
2. Bastard Scum - 08:33
3. Get Through Winter - 08:21
4. Oscillate - 04:48
5. Shivers // Drafts - 17:17
Members
John Hoffman - Drums/Vocals
Adam Tomlinson - Guitars
Review
The brutal Doom/Sludge Metal unit known as STOMACH are back with their new album Low Demon and it’s an expertly created exercise in punishing landscapes and violent grooves that will pummel you into submission from the very start. The band is made up of John Hoffman (Weekend Nachos) and Adam Tomlinson (Sea Of Shit and Sick/Tired) where they continue the nightmarish trajectory they created on their outstanding 2023 debut album Parasite.
For the most part STOMACH play long draw out Doom/Sludge Metal sounds that retain a horrifying storytelling aspect to them There’s echoes of Weekend Nachos and Sick/Tired heard within their music though the fast-paced aspects has been replaced by a long drawn out style of DRONE which is powerful enough to cause moments of sheer uncomfortable NOISE throughout the album.
Low Demon is best described as PURE SONIC WARFARE with it’s neverending style of filth and industrial beats with a slight Progressive energy appearing on the longer tracks of Bastard Scum, Decaying Winter and Shivers // Drifts. The album is made up of two shorter tracks of Dredged and Oscillate which are just as bleak and violently heavy as their larger counterparts.
The vocals from John Hoffman are violent, harsh and quite extreme which does make it hard to understand the lyrics at first but after a few listens I started to understand them more clearly though I wish I didn’t. As STOMACH touch upon some pretty hard hitting subjects with a NO HOLDS BARRED approach which could easily be the perfect nihilistic soundtrack for current worldwide events.
I wasn’t prepared for how Low Demon would affect me emotionally and musically as this album has haunted me for the last few weeks. The last time I felt like this was for Primitive Man’s classic 2013 album Scorn and STOMACH have a similar creative energy and vibe to that great band. STOMACH’s music maybe more Drone and Sonic based but the use of extreme music is the same with both bands delivering the same results of highly destructive EXTREME DOOM / SLUDGE METAL to great effect.
The standout tracks for me are Oscillate and Shivers // Drifts which sees STOMACH adding elements of Grind and Prog Metal into the mix. These two tracks make up about twenty two minutes of the album’s forty three minutes run time. STOMACH perhaps experimented the most on this part of the album with overlapping layers of distorted feedback with those harsh aspects of Extreme Metal bringing one final blast of decaying filth that will live on in my dreams and nightmares for a long time to come.
Overall, Low Demon is a masterclass of Extreme Metal that gives the modern day Doom/Sludge Metal scene a great sense of twisted Dystopian Paranoia you rarely nowadays fully experience.
WOW - is all I can say. I’m going to take a well deserved rest after listening to this album. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!!!
Words by Steve Howe
Thanks to Earsplit PR for the promo.
Low Demon is available to buy on DD/Vinyl via Hibernation Release
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