This sludge/doom trio hail from Strasbourg, and comprise of Thibault Bru on drums, Benjamin Simon on bass/vocals, and Renaud Deschamps on guitars/vocals. The three were founder members of The Pledge of Cain back in 2005, although Bru left a few years before their finally split in 2013, a band who built a powerful reputation in the genre, sharing the stage with the likes of Electric Wizard, Suma, and Nadja. In 2017 the trio decided it was time to get back together and create a new force, and here is their second album, following on from 2022’s ‘Infraordo’. Only four songs, but none of them less than 9 minutes in length, so we have an album which is nearly 42 minutes long.

I must admit I find sludge quite a hard genre to get into to, as there is much more to it than just playing ponderous riffs very slowly, but when a band gets it right it feels as if the music has a physical presence with the slabs being leaden and full of presence, and that is just what we have here. This feels like an unstoppable monster, with atmosphere being created not only by the huge weight of the chords but also the black metal style vocals which have a presence all their own. Although this is heavy in the extreme the band also understand the need for contrast and dynamics, bringing in elements Sabbath-like elements at times, changing the tempo here and there so the music is always evolving and taking on additional sense of majesty. I may not listen to much of this genre, as often it can feel like something just plodding along with no real sense of direction or purpose, but this is quite different indeed and is a work of some import. I am not saying this has turned me onto sludge as a genre, but I certainly look forward to hear more from these guys in the future and if, like me, you have sometimes wondered what is the point then I urge you to give this a try.

Rating: 8/10

Links:
https://www.facebook.com/PEINEKAPITAL/
https://www.facebook.com/SludgelordRecords/