(Andy Synn dedicates his first post-NWTF review to the Post/Sludge/Doom stylings of We Follow the Earth)
Right now, in case you didn’t know. we’re in what’s called the “post Northwest Terror Fest slump”… which is where we’re largely reliant on DGR’s forethought in producing a bunch of reviews to cover for the fact that he and I are visiting Seattle and spending more of our time (which includes spending some much-needed face-to-face time with Islander) drinking and hanging out and explicitly not writing for the site.
That being said, I’m going to try and fit in a few reviews – starting with this one – between now and the end of our trip (which also includes a journey to Baltimore to attend Maryland Deathfest), so let’s cut to the chase, shall we, and get into it with the new album from North Carolina Sludge-slingers We Follow the Earth.
Interestingly enough, just prior to writing this review DGR and I were discussing what (if anything) differentiates Post-Metal from Sludge or Doom, considering that all three sub-styles are, to an extent, all about heavy atmosphere and humongous grooves.
And the reason this is interesting, in this particular context anyway, is that Foamdrinker, the band’s upcoming second album (out this Friday) effectively sits at the centre of a visceral Venn Diagram combining all three genres, with impressive (if not unparallelled) results.
Of course, the ratio might generally be at least a little skewed more towards the sludgier side of the spectrum – with the churning chuggery of “Foamdrinker” and the shuddering swagger and staccato stomp of “Black Lamp” epitomising the band’s unapologetic emphasis on weighty tension and grim, tooth-grinding groove – but the group’s willingness to let the songwriting, rather than some unnecessrily strict adherence to genre, dictate their direction means that they rarely (if ever) find themselves at a creative impasse.
The moody melodic misery of “Maelstrom”, for example, possesses an introspective intensity reminiscent of Oryx at their most sombre and subdued (especially during the song’s simmering, slow-burning second half) while the gleaming atmospheric sheen and gloomy metallic mien of “On Violent Waves” and the more polished, but still prodigiously powerful, Post-inflected strains of “Sirens” clearly owe an obvious (and acknowledged) debt to the likes of Isis/Neurosis at their best.
Sure, We Follow the Earth aren’t necessarily adding anything new or unexpected to the canon – although the suprisingly punky boom and battery of “Aeons” is definitely an unpredictable early curve-ball, while the immersive ambience of “The Still Blue” shifts things much more towards the other extreme, displaying the striking scope and versaility of the band’s sound – but their ability to tell a series of distinctive, dynamic stories over the course of just under fifty-seven minutes, without ever feeling over-stuffed or under-developed, makes for an undeniably compelling listening experience all the same.