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HERON - Time Immemorial
Sludgelord Records
HERON are a four piece sludge metal act from Vancouver, Canada who I first learned about in 2018 via their debut full length A Low Winter's Sun. I thought that release was damm good. A very heavy and electric crunch sounding album. I even gave em a slight YOB comparison.
But HERON are not your typical sludge heavy for the sake of heaviness type of act. They actually write song cool tunes. So I'm kinda glad they're still around. On this their second full length they're still sans a bassist. Letting the duel guitars and drums to do all the damage to your psyche. The vocals are still part harsh abrasive screams and part bestial growls.
Now what's cool is that the band isn't repeating what came forth on their debut. On here some of the songs come off as more melodic with a dark atmospheric touch. Sure HERON is still in the business of brutalizing your senses with other cuts. But they also lay out some haunting sounds that kinda coincide with our current event status (aka: Pandemic 2020).
Without going into more of the present day depressives of the time. I don't play happy music to mask the obvious. So HERON right now meets my needs to face the obvious bleak future. Don't freak out, it's sludge metal and not death doom. Plus their final cut "Endless" does leave you wanting more. So I hope there's always going to be more from HERON.
https://thesludgelord.bandcamp.com/
https://thesludgelord.bandcamp.com/album/time-immemorial
https://www.facebook.com/heronsludge
YOB - Our Raw Heart
Relapse Records
Since their inception, with their 2002 debut, YOB were a band for doom enthusiasts. Their first four albums were filled with monolithic riffs, sonically charged psych melodies and out-worldly vocals. And then in 2006 guitarist/vocalist Mike Scheidt broke up the band. He then started a new YOB-lite act which didn't work out due to name rights.
So in 2009 Scheidt revived YOB and released The Great Cessation which to me still was YOB-lite. Although since it came out on Profound Lore Records instead of their previous label Metal Blade the invading hipster elitists in the new lame-stream metal media gave it praise and worship. So since then the only thing older fans could look forward to was the band pulling out a cut from the past during a live set.
As far as the albums they've released since then well 2014's Clearing the Path to Ascend showed promise by returning to the aggressive side of things. It was a huge sludge ridden bone tossed to us older fans while being shock and awe to hipster lemmings. But then the worst happened. A few years ago Scheidt was overcome by a life threatening illness. Thankfully he survived but after listening to Our Raw Heart well YOB is dead.
Obviously Scheidt's recent medical experience is a huge influence here. While listening to the opening cut "Ablaze" I felt miserable and not in a good way. As this release continued onward with the weak clean vocals, sad melodies, an overabundance of recycled riffs and a depressive mood direction I wanted to call an ambulance. Dude you just triumphed over illness. You should be a little happy instead of acting like an overly dramatic sick boy. Plus I was dozing off by the third cut, "In Reverie".
I'm sure some people reading this will be like; "You cold hearted bastard, how could you be so uncaring as to what this man went through." Well first off who said I had a heart. Secondly it's all about the music and if this release is an extension to the what Scheidt went through while sick then that sucks as does this. Frankly Our Raw Heart sounds like it's in need of some post illness therapy sessions.
https://store.relapse.com/
https://yobislove.bandcamp.com/album/our-raw-heart
https://www.facebook.com/quantumyob
