LORD - Blacklisted review

LORD - Blacklisted

Heavy Hound Records

The promo info on LORD states " fans of EYEHATEGOD, DOWN, NEUROSIS and TODAY IS THE DAY." I'm not really a fan of any of those bands but I do own stuff by em. I kinda hate TODAY IS THE DAY and there are times this Virginia sludge/hardcore act reminds me of them as well as a third tier NEUROSIS. Now I won't taint this band with my own bias, well not directly. Also it's been a nostalgia year in metal as far as all the new releases go. So why not some early sounding sludge?

For those of you who don't know, I've been around as far as the music scene goes. When I listen to this release by Virginia's LORD I'm reminded of the late 80s/early 90s. That was the time when the "sludgery" crept upon us in the underground music scene. You had hardcore bands slowing down midway in their songs to extend them out. I kinda thought they all got turned onto Gluey Porch Treatments by the MELVINS or at least Ozzy era SABBATH. But the deed was done and a genre was formed. We also got stoner rock at the same time but that' another story. And since I lived in an area with a decent club scene for touring bands I got to see it all form and flow.

This band reminds me of those early days. Now strangely enough LORD are not new. They've been around for a decade and have some past releases including last year's full length Awake also on Heavy Hound Records. They're a five piece act with two guitarists, a bass player, drummer and a vocalist. Obviously there's more than one person providing vocals on here since you get a trifecta of hoarse growls, cat shrieks and a wise ass sounding punk voice. Starting off with the first two cuts, "Mile After Mile" and “They Lied”, both start out with a metalish hardcore feel (crossover?) until someone hits the drudgery button. It's works the same way on "The Bandage" as well as the title cut. Both start out fast and furious then the groove kicks in.

The more I listen to this I keep thinking it's a cassette from a band I saw at a sparcely attended show at a local club in 1990. Three quarter's of the way through their set they beg those still standing around to buy their merch so they can afford gas money to get home. I feel sorry for em so after their set I buy a tape off of em for three bucks and then they sale's pitch me for a an extra five I could also get a t-shirt, unfortunately it was white only of course. Truth be told I had a big box of those types of cassettes and a shitload of t-shirts, white only of course.

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