The Abominable Iron Sloth
Self Titled
6.9
In conversation regarding this record the question was implied: is it really all that good?
No.
But there is a dichotomy between an intellectual understanding of the caliber of innovation and technical prowess involved in musical endeavors and the ability to allow one's self to actually experience a piece of art on its own terms. Value, it seems to me, is that which these two more or less complimentary yet adversarial aspects produces in the heart of a spectator.
Get that? That's exactly what it sounds like when someone who isn't as smart as they are well read sounds like when trying to relate why they like a piece of derivative heavy metal. And that is more or less what I need to do. Because The Abominable Iron Sloth catches me at precisely the proper angle, where my sickness of the same old same old ends and my delight over funky, dense, slow riffs begins. My Achilles heel is now and always will be heavy metal.
The Abominable Iron Sloth is HEAVY. But they are also, really, just another sludge/stoner band. I didn’t give this one the obligatory three spins. I sat on it for at least eight, because when I first heard it I was in love with it. But I couldn’t really justify it to myself. They aren’t doing anything I haven’t heard Goatsblood doing two years ago, although these guys do make songs out of it, as opposed to bridges masquerading as songs. But in the end this is just a series of repeated riffs, sludgy with a heavier production than I am used to from the style. But that’s the appeal. It’s HEAVIER. It simply sounds…no…feels great coming from my speakers.
This band is basic. No brain splitting drum fills, no callous ripping solos, no neck twisting licks, just a few riffs and a lot of rhythm. The singer screams like a sludge version of some bonged out black metal vocalist. There is nothing wrong with any of it, though. They move tectonically, but with volcanic fury. The entire mission of the band seems to be to make you want to rotate around the sun and catch things on fire: a big, fiery molten metal death planet. But with a sense of humor, considering song titles like “Hats Made of Veal and That New Car Scent”. They are called The Abominable Iron Sloth, after all.
To know the bottom line is to know the difference between metal and heavy metal, I guess. Any metal band that does what it does and manages to actually remain heavy gets points from a an old fart like myself. The scores reflect my intellectual view of this disc, but in my heart I want you to get this thing and wallow, as I do, under the fifty ton press of its style. If you sometimes scratch your head when people mention things that are weak, thin, tinny and top heavy in reference to metal, take a look at The Abominable Iron Sloth. If you don’t, then this is a decent sludge record. If that don’t cut it for you, forget it.
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