SLUDGEHAMMER "Antechamber"




SLUDGEHAMMER

"Antechamber"

I ran into Canada’s Sludgehammer a couple of years back and for the most part enjoyed their brawny form of death-tinged groove metal. Despite having “sludge” in their name, they have far more in common with Pantera and Lamb of God than Eyehategod or the like. With "Antechamber" we basically get a redux of their "Fallen Sun" album.

Nothing fancy or sophisticated about these guys. They do have a death metal edge, particularly in the often gruff vocals, but really this is much more groove metal orientated. Sometimes it even leans towards nu-metal or grunge. That will scare off many, but songs like ‘Broken Sea” and ‘Forsaken Souls’ have a crude battering ram power to them. ‘Balance of Life’ is a crazy mish mash of influences that’s kind of hard to grab onto. Some cuts like ‘The Long Road’ and ‘Eternal Darkness’ seem a little flat, but the album ending ‘Line ‘Em Up’ has got a monstrous head shaking groove that could have come right off "Far Beyond Driven".

This is solid but not especially outstanding metal from SLUDGEHAMMER...I suspect that the live stage is where they really will shine!

SLUDGEHAMMER

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