Batillus - Furnace (2011)

Full Length, Seventh Rule
April 19, 2011

Genre: Sludge/Doom Metal
Region: USA

Seventh Rule Recordings are the guys who put out Atriach's massive "Forever the End", so they seem to know a little something about good and lumbering metal. Last week they had a promotional free download of all the releases on their bandcamp page, and I was perusing some of them until I came to Batillus. The cover caught my attention first (reminds me of something Godflesh would use) and when I gave the album a listen I was not disappointed.

The title "Furnace" is appropriate as this will smoulder with intensity in your ears until your brain turns to ashes. I wouldn't say its has never been done before but that's no reason to pass over this record. Furnace opens with a brief noise-backed clean section before rumbling into feedback and an avalanche of murky sludge riffs that will hypnotize without question from that point on. In rare instances it will pick up above a crawl or go silent and clean but it inevitably slides back into a dim and ugly mist. It's a solid, atmospheric and monolithic doom release with a few blackened tendencies which will please any fan of slow and pounding riffs. Truly heavy and austere — thick and fuzzed out guitars/bass writhe over a 45 minute journey with reverb covered, spectral rasps and howls from the vocalist. There are some synths and cycling ambient noise carefully placed throughout complimenting the gloomy atmosphere perfectly.

Despite the length and pace it's over before it has a chance to wear you down. Absolutely recommended; doom and sludge fans will certainly enjoy this record immensely especially if you like crushing shit like Thou and Atriarch. You can listen to it on their bandcamp page where you can also pick it up on vinyl and cd (or through Seventh Rule directly).

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