Crushing squeals of feedback loom as this CD entered my laptop drive. These squeals ring forth foreshadowing in the shape of Tinnitus. The sudden, and frightening, screams that immediately followed the first swell sent chills up my arms. As to be expected from sophomore Califnornia doom/hardcore/loudasfucksters Abominable Iron Sloth. The Id Will Overcome was released April 27th on Black Market Activity Records. This record is undeniably heavy, and fans of Engineer, Eyehategod, Gaza, and Swarm of the Lotus will bathe in its crushing volume.
This record keeps a steady pace which solidifies their precise grooves. Make no mistake: these sludgy grooves are riddled with pedantic and stressful vocals. The vocal shrieks of misanthropic anger, which I assume is rooted in societal disgust, are reminiscent of Eyehategodesque sentiments. This is not an instrumentally a flashy record. It does deliver several fathoms of suffocating rhythms and crusty guitar progressions that constantly evolve (or devolve?) to become more disgustingly satisfying than the last. Dissonance is appropriated sparingly, but correctly, at critical climactic pace shifts.
The longest track on the record, Heterodox Nonconformists, is the only questionable portion of this record. The track clocks in at one second shy of fourteen minutes. Swells of noise, static and silence are the only elements implemented. This definitely breaks up the carefully constructed groove the record had already worked so hard to establish. It’s picked up following the 14 minutes of noise/drone experimentation with the final track: “The Timely Death of Billy Mays”. The final track picks up the groove exactly where it left off, but ends abruptly making me want more.
The song titles range from feelings of formerly mentioned social, and perhaps political, frustrations to clever and topically appropriate puns.
8/10 delicious sloth steaks for Abominable Iron Sloth.
This could have been a nine if the flow hadn’t been broken, but perhaps the inspiration for a 14 minute noise track is beyond my cognition? Regardless, a very strong release! T-shirt and CD package available here.
Favorite Track: Two Black Helicopters
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