Dust Lord - Teethcutter (Album Review)

Release Date: September 20th 2024. Record Label: Horton Records. Formats: DD/Vinyl

Teethcutter - Track Listing:

1.Teethcutter 07:07

2.Astigmatism

3.Gilded Ruins/Thunder Through Flesh

4.Farewell Bubba Zanetti

5.All We Want Is Blood

Line-up:

Spike - guitar / vocals

Brad - bass / backing vocals

Connor - drums

Additional vocals on "All We Want Is Blood" - Brad, Connor, Lee Paris, Peter Low Frequency, Conor Frederickson

Review

Teethcutter is the new album Dust Lord and is a nasty ride into the violent side of Doom, Sludge and Stoner Metal with the band showing a fine pedigree of Crust Punk, Industrial Metal and NOLA themes throughout the record. Showcasing a destructive appetite which will appeal to fans of DOWN, EYEHATEGOD and BONGZILLA. This is one dark trip of WEEDIAN METAL where the grooves have a certain POWERVIOLENCE theme to them which comes straight into action on the standout title track of TEETHCUTTER.

This is where Dust Lord showcases how different they sound compared to their previous releases as the mood is categorically ferocious and downright mean with the fast-paced style of HARDCORE based Sludge/Stoner Metal grooves. The vocals are not extreme as such but Spike’s vocal delivery is quite aggressive and mostly of the harsh growl variety. There is some terrific musical interplay on the later stages of Teethcutter where Dust Lord plays classic Hard Rock guitar solos reminiscent of THIN LIZZY at times which is carried out throughout the album.

Dust Lord plays at a breakneck speed which comes roaring into life on the excellent second track of Astigmatisim. The music is once again solidified by a murky SOUTHERN METAL or NOLA attitude with that slight industrial based sound allowing Dust Lord to bring a heavier substance to their music. There’s a sense of melody starting to form within the quieter moments where the band play a sludgy and fuzzier style of music which sounds like a DOOMIER version of Thin Lizzy. 

Teethcutter is quite a progressive sounding record with the tracks running between seven to eight minutes in length and this allows Dust Lord to explore many different sides of the whole WEEDIAN METAL spectrum. The music has a ton of different sounding moments of AMPLIFIER DISTORTION, FEEDBACK and REVERB energy within the heaviest, aggressive and violent parts of the album which appears on tracks such as Gilded Ruins/Thunder Through Flesh, Farewell Bubba Zanetti and All We Want Is Blood.

As the album moves onto each individual track, Dust Lord starts to find their real voice with a rich vein of creative storytelling adding a darker aspect to the band’s musical vision. The music becomes more distorted and superbly original in places with Dust Lord moving into the LOW & SLOW arena for huge parts of the album. The Psychedelic elements become ever more apparent within the final two tracks with perhaps Farewell Bubba Zanetti and All We Want Is Blood being my favourite parts of the whole album. 

If you want a Sludge/Stoner Metal album with EXTRA BITE where the music PULLS NO PUNCHES and delivers a ton of FUCKED UP riffs from start to finish then Teethcutter is the place to be. The album is packed full of great tracks that may surprise you even when a warped style of GRINDCORE appears though in small doses to allow Teethcutter to be an outstanding slice of modern day Sludge/Stoner Metal.

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Dust Lord for the promo.

Teethcutter will be available to buy on DD/Vinyl via Horton Records from Friday 20th September 2024.

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Fuckhammer - Scorched Earth Prophets (Album Review)

Release Date: August 09th 2024. Record Label: Self Released. Formats: CD/DD

Scorched Earth Prophets - Track Listing:

1.Scorched Earth Profits 03:33

2.Wrath of Cyans 03:11

3.Impartial Agenda 05:00

4.Vexillological Fixation 02:44

5.Unmerciful Sisters 01:17

6.Curse of the Crimson Altar 05:26

7.Crisis Generator 03:00

8.Hangman's Fracture 03:13

9.Passage to the Afterworld 03:45

10.Desolate Malaise 04:04

11.Brain Turbulence 01:41

12.Irregularities 07:59

Line-up:

ROSS - Guitar

DAVE - Bass

BAGGY - Vocal

JONNY - Drums

Review

Scorched Earth Prophets is the new album from Death/Doom/Sludge Metallers Fuckhammer who bring an extreme level of demonic metal madness to their music with the band adding elements of Crust and Grindcore to their music. There is still a deep reliance on grind/sludge metal sounds taken from their supremely enjoyable 2013 debut album but this time seeing the band branching into areas of NOLA and Southern Metal. This allows Fuckhammer to play a similar sound to EYEHATEGOD with it’s constant barrage misery and filth that’s buried within the subtle harsh leaning guitars.

There’s nothing too groundbreaking on the record but Fuckhammer are supremely talented at delivering catchy and heavy extreme sludge/grind/death grooves that have a sense of melody, progression and action behind them especially on the opening tracks of Scorched Earth Prophets, Wrath Of Cyans and Impartial Agenda. 

The lyrics have a disgusting filthy quality to them which allows them to be on the more extreme side of Doom/Death Metal and BAGGY’s vocals never cease to disappoint as I’m a huge fan of his work with his previous band WAR IRON. BAGGY’s vocals have the classic style of Death Metal delivery where they can be very hard to understand at first but this allows you to concentrate more on what is actually being sung which becomes more easier as the record progresses naturally.

Fuckhammer are made up of core established veterans of the Belfast, Northern Ireland Heavy Metal scene. These guys have been part of some of the most important underground heavy metal bands of the last twenty years so they know a thing or two about delivering a lean sounding riff. There are moments of the album which sees the band leave the Death/Grind aspect behind and play a classic mix of Prog Metal, Thrash Metal and Groove Metal with some epic beatdowns along the way.

The record seems to be inspired by the classic works of Metallica, DEATH, GOJIRA, EYEHATEGOD, Pantera and other classic Heavy Metal bands but Fuckahmmer give it their own creative spin with their Grindcore and Doom Metal antics becoming more part of the action on tracks such as: Curse Of The Crimson Altar, Hangman’s Fracture, Desolate Malaise and Irregularities. 

I have to give Fuckhammer credit by injecting some creepy DOOM & GLOOM soundbytes into the mix for certain parts of the album which elevates the record into pure DOOM METAL territory which is quite rare for an Extreme Metal album such as this but it’s a cool instance of some highly original creative thoughts and ideas being added into the album.

Scorched Earth Prophets is a superbly produced musical adventure into the more extreme side of Heavy Metal with Fuckhammer delivering some fantastic technically impressive instrumental moments along the way especially with their blistering rhythm section from Dave and Jonny on Bass and Guitar respectively impressing myself the most. Though, the epic guitar shredding from Ross is worth a great mention as well.

Overall, Scorched Earth Prophets is a damn good record with a huge sounding destructive appetite which should keep the horde of Extreme Metal and Heavy Metal fans impressed until the violent end.

Excellent and Highly Recommended.

Words by Steve Howe

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