Seven Sisters Of Sleep - Ezekiel's Hags (2016)

Made up of members of Tafkata, these California sludgers actually managed to capture my attention with what is their third full-length album on Relapse Records. I guess it's about time I hear them now, even though their previous two records received some rather high scores over at Metal Archives from one person. But I'm one person as well (at least I think I am) so here's my input on the newest offering. Quite simply, it's just damned good sludge. It doesn't stick to the basics, but it has enough of the basics to keep it from wandering too far off. Ezekiel's Hags is the kind of record that contains extensively heavy bouts of doom along with moments of blistering death metal, some grind and maybe even some tinges of atmosphere. Honestly, I think one of the greatest things about this band would be that of their frontman, Tim McClary. The guy has one hell of a set of pipes, sounding like everything from The Creature From The Black Lagoon, to a frantic punk or even a garbage mouthed monstrosity. If there's anything that you really need to take from this album though, it's that these guys like to play their music as with as much fuzz and amp squeal as humanly possible. Just like the old days.

You'll even hear them making nods to EyeHateGod in the form of the blues notes captured here in closer “Bastard Son.” When I went to see EyeHateGod for the first time, all that I thought of them was that they were a really heavy blues band and I'm not sure if anyone else really caught that. Sure, they're heavy as can be and sound like an eighteen-wheeler headed down the road at ninety miles per hour, but there's no doubting those good old fashioned blues riffs. Even so, you couldn't compare Seven Sisters Of Sleep to EyeHateGod in any other similarities though, because there are mountains of doom here that stand tall before anything else on the recording, especially blues. Ezekiel's Hags is actually the kind of sludge record that I would recommend to doom fans too, because there's just that unmistakable fucking thump. That's what I've heard makes up “the doom!” so rest assured, you'll find it here. It's sludge, but it's definitely good solid sludge that I think stands out. Did I mention all “the doom?”

(11 Tracks, 49:00)

8/10