#POST-SLUDGE

[doomedandstoned]

AINU Paint Compelling Post-Doom Landscape on Self-Titled Debut

~Doomed & Stoned Debuts~

By Billy Goate

AINU is a welcome new name to us, a three-piece heavy cinematic psychedelic post-doom powerhouse from Genoa, Italy (where many a band has popped onto our radar over the years, most recently Isaak). Here emerges today five soundscapes of the instrumental variety, part of the explosion in instrumental rock and metal that has emerged in recent years. The album is 'Ainu' (2024) which, besides being the name for the indigenous peoples of northern Japan, means simply "human."

First track is the stormy "Il Faro," which takes its name from The Lighthouse and appears to quote from an Italian language version of the 2019 film in its opening minutes. While I may not understand the dialogue, I can tell that there's a lot of passion and fluster in the words, and contrasts with a backdrop of eastern drone and psychedelic post-metal atmosphere, gathering like massive rain clouds.

The full band drops its weight two-minutes in and caught away in a swell. From the get-go we notice Ainu is a band that's quite confident in itself as an instrumental unit. The collaboration between Dani on guitar, Jacco on bass, and Gelso on drums is tight. Each instrument is deftly captured on this recording, the bass in particular has lots of clarity and plenty of oomph. It rewards listening with earphones, especially, but you can open up your speakers with this one and give the benefit of a full room -- the sound will claim it all. Listen for a key moment of transition 5:20 in with a warm, doomy bassline.

In many ways, this 12:43 piece mirrors a day on ocean's cliffs overlooking the waters and experiencing moments that are turbulent, mysterious, and serene. It is indeed cinematic in its vision, and this applies in many ways to the evolving scenes that follow.

Likewise, second track "Aiutami A Ricordare" (which means "Help Me Remember") generates big, rumbling sound in the service of a broad tapestry (it also makes its big splash around 5 minute mark with swinging bombast.

"D.E.V.S." and "Khrono" (the latter featuring guest musicians Francesco Bucci and Giorgio Nattero) reference the American science fiction thriller television miniseries D.E.V.S. and samples from the show here and there. The first two-minute track begins with surreal and calming ambience, but soon errupt into second -- a strumming, churning, tremelo-filled current. It's easy to get swept away in the momentum.

Whether you're listening intently, riding, or doing something else around the house, these songs always find a way to pull you into their moods, and here it is serious, searching, and tumultuous. "Krono" ("Time") ends with some of that broad, brash tossing back and forth Yob energy.

"Call Of The Sea," while not the longest, is certainly one of the more ambitious of the record and closes this cinquefoil journey out. The band takes time to build the story, and one could picture themselves picturing the landscape from a seagull's view. After three-and-a-half minutes of development comes the brake-squeaking dissonance announcing a transition, which comes with cymbals, watery reverberating strings, and a bass riff which you almost want to go on forever. It's Bongripper worthy stuff, but not meant to a barnstormer here, just enough gravity to keep our feet planted while our heads sail far above with the whirling, misty ambience of echoing loops and Lili Refrain's remarkable guest vocals. It's not really important to know what words she is singing, so much as to experience it, for it is beautiful and enchanting.

Ainu's self-titled debut comes out June 28th via Subsound Records on vinyl, compact disc, and digital format (get it here).

Give ear...

Ainu by Ainu

SOME BUZZ

'Ainu' is a concept record that moves between powerful and stirring soundscapes, building up at a slow but steady pace between psychedelia and post-metal, stemming from the Genoa trio’s passion for cinema and their close relationship with the sea, its stories and creatures.

Featuring special appearances from Lili Refrain as well as Francesco Bucci (Ottone Pesante) and Giorgio Nattero (Carcharodon), this album is an intense, emotionally dense experience that uses the descriptive foundations of seamen and the calls of huge animals to recall the connection between the sound and the environment. An electrifying and contemplative journey for the heart and soul of heavy music lovers.

Follow The Band

Get Their Music

[onlyhurtforaminute]

NEUROSIS-LEFT TO WANDER

[rorvk]

Persona 2 stuff ... Life has been so wild that I think doodling P2 on the side is one of my few solaces at the moment

[2001hz]

Mud and Sludge (2020) Artworks Illustrated By: Q Hayashida

[carpathiians]

johm

[babycharmander]

I feel like the people who are super into character AIs just… really haven’t read enough fanfic. Like, so much of the output of those things is just generic sludge, like, the most basic, boring response to whatever you typed in. It’s not in-character, it’s just an algorithm coughing up the most obvious response it can think of.

If this is the stuff you’re enjoying, I highly encourage you to read literally anything else.

The most poorly-written OOC fanfic is better than a character AI by virtue of it at least having been written by a human. It’s not the most obvious algorithmically generated sludge—it’s something a real person wanted to write.

Or like, if you want to write stuff yourself while playing off another person… maybe join a roleplay group, or find an RP partner? It’s not like they’re hard to find these days. Of course you need to learn basic RPing etiquette, which might seem intimidating, but once you learn it I promise you it is SO much more satisfying than receiving sludge responses from an AI.

Please engage in fandom in literally any other way—I promise you it will be more fun than what you are currently doing.

[spidergirl1225]

Robots 😍

ill try to find the og image i forgot where i got it from

[rad-roche]

heard rumblings of an oblivion remake. i'm not sure if that's actually substantiated, but if it is it'll be interesting to see what they do with it. part of oblivion's charm, i think, it just how busted and of its time it is. it's got that 360 near-launch look to it, that 7th gen bloomy, saturated haze, like somebody at bethesda is spit-polishing your camera in real time to keep your focus off the fact that the engine is spewing black smoke. the score is lush and soft and sweeping. oblivion has, for lack of a better term, a kind of mucilaginous quality to it, i think, but i assume part of that is the positive memories i ascribe to it through nostalgia. oblivion is bright, and dense, but there's enough in it for you to stick your hands in and gouge out something interesting yourself. if you make it cleaner, better, if you wipe the vaseline off the lens, i wonder what's left? i can't argue that they shouldn't improve things like stability, or the ai, or increase the amount of voice actors from 2 to 3, but i hope the likelihood of a quest npc saying ᶠᵃʳᵉʷᵉˡˡᵎ and then pinging straight through the wall, never to be seen again and ruining a quest you'll do 80 hours from now, is at least there. i'm looking forward to it, in any case

[short666bread]

Get Haunted

[doomedandstoned]

England’s URZAH Charges Out of the Gate with Astonishing Tour de Force

~Doomed & Stoned Debuts~

By Billy Goate

Yes! This is what I needed to get my week revving. An explosion of color, energy, and rage. Pure mayhem. This is URZAH from Bristol. With a mix of post-sludge and metalcore, the band has whipped up a frenzy in 'The Scorching Gaze' (2024), their debut full-length following two brutal EPs in 2020 and 2022.

Drums pound with guitars, bass, and vocals from the team of Ed Fairman, Tom McElveen, Les Grodek, and James Brown. The form a great onslaught of synergistic motion for opener "I, Empyrean." A song of cosmic proportion, Empyrean was said to be the abode of God, higher than the highest heavens, a place of burning glory. "We’ll meet again, two worlds reborn, this scarlet crown, thou shalt adorn," sings frontman Ed Fairman.

"Lacrimare (Misery's Shadow)" hits you with a barrage of incendiary arrows hoisted through the air in unrelenting rhythmic fashion, erupting into a firestorm without mercy. The song speaks of unbearable loneliness ("hollow and numb") borne of chaos and grief. "Lacrima" is the Latin word for "tear," so a lacrimare can only be a life torn apart again and again, both in reality and in heart.

Next up is "Immateria Noir", a 7-minute behemoth, which heralds a "bold sun burning." One can hardly look at the sun, much less stare at it. It is a witness to this world of confusion, hurt, and loss. We will be one with the solar giant when the earth is one day consumed by it in "sunlit obsidian." It is indeed the "essence of omnipresence," as we cannot escape the sun's gaze (explaining why our forebears worshiped it). The song feels like a sanguine messenger of doom, with hints of tragedy and regret along the way in the guitars especially.

After a surreal interlude, dissonant strumming and unrelenting drums bode an ominous warning as "A Storm Is Ever Approaching," a track which speaks of "doomed enterprises" and "divided lives." The guitars are the star of the show here, with head-banging deft and booming low-end.

Reprieve from the ire of the tempest comes with "The Aesthetic," featuring the lovely, reassuring strains of guest singer Eleanor Tinlin. It's short but sweet, with hints of tensions rising in its waning moments.

"Of Decay" is next, with more apocalyptic overtones in the lyrics. "Shadows surround me," Fairman barks, "baptized in ashes, frozen in time." Guitars swirl with grooves, while the rhythm section rumbles forward like the approaching hand of Death itself. "The dream is over," the vocalist declares, as the drums thunder with an air of finality. The downtuned low-end is nothing short of intimidating in the last minute of the song.

The final two songs concern Thera, which may be an allusion to an ancient abandoned settlement which sits atop a limestone hill on the Greek island of Santorini. It was abandoned, I believe, due to volcanic activity in the region. While I may be missing much of the lore behind this, "Thera I: Sea of Flames" catches us up on its symbolic meaning to the band. Guitars wind, wallow, and wisp with damning doom chords, underscoring lyrics that speak of "sacred pillars" that "spire high" and then "fields of fire," "plumes of smoke," and "inferno" that bring about the once proud city's ultimate desolation, promising a "molten rebirth."

The record draws to a close with "Thera II: Embers of Descent," which combines with the previous track to form a 15-minute epic. Guitars meet out buzzing repeated notes that have the feel of a languishing journey through ruins of smoke and brimstone. "Dreams in slow motion," Fairman cries, "Edge of the abyss." Screeching guitars at 3:22 sound like the haunting echoes of some long forgotten human drama, accompanied by chugging guitars and drums that pummel the soil. Bittersweet guitar passages soar above the desolation, but are soon swallowed up by it.

The Scorching Gaze is loud, brash, and in your face, but a great compliment to your speakers and headphones thanks to the work of Josh Gallop in Bath's Stage 2 Studios. Tom McElveen's guitars are captured with crisp clarity and great emotion.

Look for Urzah's new LP on Friday, May 3rd, released by APF Records on a limited run of cassettes, as well as on compact disc (pre-order here). Stick it on a playlist with Cult Leader, Elder, Converge, Gojira, and Cave In.

Give ear...

Urzah · THE SCORCHING GAZE

SOME BUZZ

APF Records' latest signing URZAH deliver a powerful and gargantuan storm of savage riffs on their blistering debut album THE SCORCHING GAZE Post/progressive sludge metal newcomers URZAH present their fiery debut album THE SCORCHING GAZE. After only a few short years of actively recording and gigging, Urzah have set Bristol's stacked heavy underground scene ablaze and captured the attention of Manchester's beloved APF Records, home of Desert Storm, Goblinsmoker, The Hyena Kill, Video Nasties et al. Through a commanding and captivating album of complex and wildly fluctuating songs brimming with sharp melodies, Urzah deliver a barrage of dynamic and intricate riffs boasting influences of post-metal, sludge, metalcore and moments of pure surprise.

From the second you hit play, opening track and leading single 'I, Empyrean' entices the listener and grabs them by the throat, kick starting a sprawling web of chugging guitars, soaring leads, stabbing bass and commanding powerhouse drumming. Progressive and lengthy cuts such as riff workout 'Immateria Noir' sit comfortably alongside the sheer face-melting gut-punch attack 'Of Decay'. The Scorching Gaze isn't without brilliant and daring curveballs, including the sweetly nested ballad 'The Aesthetic', lead by contemplative clean guitars and guest vocalist Eleanor Tinlin's expressive singing.

The Scorching Gaze by Urzah

The Scorching Gaze is a record guided by thought-provoking lyrics and titles, inspired strongly by both the cosmic horror writings of HP Lovecraft and more directly, the late Cormac McCarthy's novel The Crossing. Akin to these works, Urzah's songs channel a narrative of inward cerebral odyssey -- life's cycles through desolation and joy, triumph and pain, violence and beauty, as well as the permanency of choice and consequence. All of this culminates in Urzah's grand finale, the fifteen minute two-part 'Thera' suite, where the quartet go balls to the wall, slowing down to a sensational sludgy pace and confronting us with their heaviest and most crushing onslaught of all.

In order to capture more density, texture and sonic space in their sound, Urzah recorded The Scorching Gaze with producer, engineer and Phoxjaw guitarist Josh Gallop at his own Stage 2 Studios in Bath. This has resulted in a thickened and balanced soundscape across these winding and complex songs that are always evolving and changing.

The quartet have brought in key additional players into the studio space, with Eleanor Tinlin of Choir Noir (who have performed live and recorded with Bring Me The Horizon and Frank Turner) providing dreamy clean vocals, as well as cellist (and bassist of stoner metallers Froglord) Luke Clemenger to lay down sorrowful strings.

Topping everything off is the vibrant cover art by the talented Indonesian gig poster and album cover illustrator Putra Satria Nugraha, expertly evoking the tapestry of layers, depths and mysteries that this album holds. The Scorching Gaze is a brightly ambitious and rewarding listen that reveals new layers and intricacies through repeat listens, boldly striding its maze of blistering riffs, dynamic song structures and flaming intensity.

Follow The Band

Get Their Music

[onlyhurtforaminute]

ALLOCHIRIA-LUST AWAKENS THE DESIRE TO POSSESS. AND THAT AWAKENS THE INTENT TO MURDER

[troythecatfish]

[bakudekublogblog]

alright I’m bored so here’s my extremely optimistic crack theory: assuming katsuki seeing a vestige means we’ll see him in the vestige realm, when kudo sorted through izuku’s memories he put his forehead on the wall right??

what if izuku is having a crisis about being left quirkless again and vestige katsuki needs to touch foreheads with izuku to show him all his memories of izuku being heroic without a quirk and he tells him “you never needed a quirk. you were always a hero” or something like that because it’s what izuku always needed to hear

[slutdge]

[doyouwantalist]

im thinkng things

[beanjang-draws]

Warmup with Chrysalis (and Starlight if you squint)