This 2013 album was released in a flat heavy-duty sleeve, which is certainly different and ensures it will be laying flat on my CD shelves as otherwise it won’t fit! Released in 2013, this album came about after the demise of hardcore outfit Broken Fist, while The Watchdogs then changed their name in 2016 to Cannonball Mephisto. At the time of this album, they were Dmitry (vocals), Evgeny (bass), Sergey (guitar) and Andrew (drums), and given the style of music Dmitry and Evgeny had been working on prior to forming this band it perhaps is not surprising that hardcore keeps making its way into the stoner/sludge, taking it in very different directions indeed.

In some ways this is quite a confusing album, as there are often very different tempos within the same song, and whichever one they are playing is the one they seem most at home in, but the question must be as to how many hardcore fans will enjoy the slowness of the doom, while will those metalheads take to the hardcore aggression and pace? I am sure these guys would be far better known if they had come out of the Western scene, and I can imagine them making quite a name for themselves in New York. Full of passion and fury this is an intriguing release, and yet another gem uncovered by no name who have long taken from Mals as my favourite Russian label. Their Bandcamp site now shows well in excess of 100 albums, so check them out.

Rating: 7/10

[bandcamp width=350 height=753 album=1590896772 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5]

Links:
https://www.facebook.com/cannonballmephisto/
https://badroad.bandcamp.com/