Prepare your cholesterol with Slimelord.
To celebrate the release of their debut album, Alexander Bradley (guitars, Cryptic Shift), Andy Ashworth (vocals), John Riley (bass, Cryptic Shift), Ryan Sheperson (drums, Cryptic Shift) and Travis Jordan (guitar) signed with 20 Buck Spin. Make way for Chytridiomycosis Relinquished.
The Beckoning Bell kicks off with its animal cries, followed by the rise of thick, dissonant saturation, where a crazy bass places vivid harmonics between two cavernous howls. The tortured leads also soar under an explosive blast, but the band doesn’t hesitate to slow down, letting their sound gradually fade away before it blazes up again on Gut-Brain Axis and its complex introduction that helps us get engulfed in this cluster of ominous sounds. The instruments accelerate almost imperceptibly to develop a kind of psychedelic heady feel, before calming down on the break to return to simpler sounds and finally letting Splayed Mudscape take over with a heavy, jerky approach that pours out in fat waves accompanied by morbid screams. An ominous sound appears at the start of Batrachomorpha Resurrections Chamber, the next track, but is quickly overtaken by the impressive riffs filled with piercing leads that eventually trample us at high speed before slowing down to join The Hissing Moor and its supercharged guitars. A few stranger sounds are also in store to feed the oppressive atmosphere before Tidal Slaughtermarsh drag us into the darker depths of their music, still inhabited by raucous vocal parts and unpredictable airy leads. We have occasional flashes of gentleness, but these are quickly swallowed up by a suffocating rhythm, as on the wild central acceleration that leads the dance to the end of the track, followed by Heroic Demise, an instrumental track that once again slows down the hazy sound before letting it place its cutting leads beneath the thick riffs to close the album.
Although Slimelord‘s debut album was not their first, it’s fair to say that they hit the nail on the head with Chytridiomycosis Relinquished! The sound is sticky, unhealthy and extremely oppressive, alternating terribly dark slow passages with explosions of rage, all with an Old School touch.
85/100