Genre: Sludge | Label: Fuck Yoga Records
Location: Oakland, CA, USA| Listen: Bandcamp
In regards to sludge, there are three bands I consider to be essential to the genre: Eyehategod, Grief, and Noothgrush. Noothgrush never released as much material as the other two bands, but they’ve certainly left their mark on the genre. While Eyehategod incorporates more punkier grooves in their music, and Grief is usually set on slow crawls, Noothgrush straddles that middle line between the two approaches.
Having reformed in 2011 after a ten year hiatus, Noothgrush haven’t wasted any time putting out new releases. There’s been a few releases of old material, and there’s been some new material: the split 12″ with Coffins, and this 7″. The band looks a little different now, with Dino Sommese (former Dystopia drummer) taking over the vocal department. That being said, Noothgrush sound like they haven’t missed a beat, and “Entropy” certainly doesn’t sound like the band was broken up for ten years.
“Entropy” consists of two tracks – the A-side title-track, and an old song re-recorded for the B-side. Both are solid slabs of sludge. The A-side embodies the main qualities that made Noothgrush so amazing in their initial existence: big riffs that groove along to pounding drums, with savagely screamed vocals that can tear through flesh. As the song grooves along, it breaks down into an even slower part, increasing the magnitude of heaviness put forth. The outro of this track is cool too, it has a nice melody that leaves a feeling of desolation.
The B-side, as I mentioned, is an old song that was re-recorded for this 7″. “Life Shatters into Pieces of Anguish” was originally on the band’s 1994 demo, and appears here with a twist: Dino sings on this song. His singing voice sounds kind of like Ozzy but less nasally, which is fitting for a sludge/doom metal band. The feeling of agony is really displayed well thanks to the vocal performance. Again, this song has a fantastic break about 3/4 of the way through, entering devastating realms of slow riffage.
This is a really solid 7″, and both songs benefit from thick guitar/bass tones and a pounding drum sound. I’m glad Noothgrush decided to record some new material, even if it’s only been a handful of songs. Based on that, I’m sure a full length would be welcomed, but if they choose just to release smaller releases, I won’t complain. Thankfully, the price of this EP is very affordable, and anyone who digs Noothgrush should get their hands on it.
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