Category Archives: Releases

Following on from the critically acclaimed release of their debut, Baton Rouge-based colossus, WOORMS, return with new single ‘silence and the saints’, the first sanctioned cut from their forthcoming LP, due for release in March 2020 on Hospital Records/Sludgelord Records.

Formed in 2017 in Louisiana and featuring guitarist/vocalist Joey Carbo, bassist John Robinson, and drummer Aaron Polk, WOORMS has been delivering a brutal mélange of riffs and noise-rock righteousness on the precipice of significance for some time.

Yet despite only being a few years into their sonic existence they have already racked up a collection of demos, digital one-offs (‘Daddy Was A Masker,’ ‘The Math Says, Yes’), a split with NOLA thrashers, A Hanging, and most recently of all, Slake; their devastating debut record.

Fully stirred from a delirious slumber, songs like ‘Mouth is a Wound’ and ‘Find a Meal, Find a Bed, Find a God’ make for a devastatingly terse and perverse experience. From the pinnacle to the point of no return, WOORMS fall psychotically through the fuzz and unholy grind of bands like KARP, Jesus Lizard and Neurosis. Their debut album immediately set out its stall in the most spectacular of fashions; a lumbering, symphonic noise-rock shank fight between the fattest of riffs and the thinnest of patience with the world at large.

The band’s new album, Twitching, As Prey, is due for official release in March 2020 on Hospital Records/Sludgelord Records but in the meantime – as premiered on CVLT Nation last week – you can watch the brand-new video for ‘silence and the saints’ here https://youtu.be/AKqcI94uTGo

Pre-order the album in the USA | UK

WOORMS on Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram

“With vocals exhumed from the crypt and down tuned rumbling guitars growling from the bowels of hell, Slake torments the listener in new and exciting ways.”
METAL INJECTION

“Of course, it wasn’t enough to just pulverize your spine musically; lyrically, we can all relate to what WOORMS are feeling.”
DECIBEL MAGAZINE

“This is part Melvins, Harvey Milk, Karp, Jesus Lizard, with a dose of Neurosis thrown in. If this sounds derivative, it’s not. This is a shambolic, lumbering piece of nastiness that steam rolls the shit out of the listener.”
BLAKE HARRISON, PIG DESTROYER

“WOORMS have hit their stride, barfing up a satisfying full-length that mixes sludge, noise-rock and a heaped side-serving of weird […] and huge, chest-crumpling riffs…”
METAL HAMMER

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Finnish Sludge Metal Savants BLACK ROYAL Return with New Single and Album

06/11/2019 shelteredlifepr

“…a bludgeoning assault on the auditory senses, laced with underlying heft of groove and tone, but filled with a brutality that reveals itself as a core element…” THE OBELISK

“Black Royal merge the brutal and raw aggression of Entombed and Dismember with the groovy sludge of Acid Bath and Down resulting in a captivating and infectious sound that can only be described as death blues.” ROCK ‘N’ LOAD

Following on from the success of their 2018 debut album Lightbringer, Scandinavian sludge savants Black Royal return early next year with their creed crushing new album, Firebride, on Suicide Records.

Formed in 2013 in Tampere, Finland, the quartet revisits their highly infectious brew of metal as they usher in their latest foray into the fields of Wicca with first single, ‘Pagan Saviour’, due for digital release on 1st November 2019.

“The song was inspired by the witch hunts, paganism and war between early Christianity and ancient mythology,” explains Black Royal’s vocalist, Riku. “It’s about how the church forced common people to follow their laws and rules and criminalized all other ways of life in order to control citizens and the state.”

Sonically with ‘Pagan Saviour’, the band’s sound is one step removed from their previously considered style of “Death Blues” and takes clear influence from black metal and modern sludge. Raw but bombastic in its bastard portrayal of mood, beguiling riffs and measured choruses that pitch the band somewhere between the dramaturgy of Ghost and brutality of Behemoth.

As the first searing first cut from Firebride (due for release on 14th February 2020 on Suicide Records) ‘Pagan Saviour’ was recorded live in Studio Watercastle – a small town in rural part of the Pirkanmaa region of Finland – and later completed in September at the band’s own Armless HQ studio; mixed by Jussi Kulomaa and mastered by Jaakko Viitalähde.

Watch the video for new single ‘Pagan Saviour’ via MetalSucks – https://www.metalsucks.net/2019/11/01/exclusive-black-royal-premiere-nsfw-video-for-pagan-saviour/

Black Royal Web | Facebook | Instagram

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Nuclear sludge duo TUSKAR return with The Monolith Sessions EP on RIFF ROCK RECORDS

17/10/2019 shelteredlifepr

Tuskar on Facebook | Bandcamp

Signed to one of the UK’s leading purveyors of psych, doom and stoner rock in Riff Rock Records, Tuskar – Milton Keynes’ most sulphurous “Nuclear Sludge” duo – returned in 2018 with one of the year’s most critically acclaimed EPs, The Tide, Beneath, The Wall.

No longer new to the fold, despite having only formed in 2016, for vocalist/drummer Tyler Hodges and guitarist Tom Dimmock, The Tide, Beneath, The Wall marked a significant shift in perspective. Recorded by Slabdragger’s Sam Thredder it ushered in a sea change in scope and sound, which, over three chapters captured punishing progressive sludge and savage, sub-world vistas. Soundscapes shaped by moments of dark brooding doom and relentlessly riff-heavy and psychedelically charged movements.

For Hodges and Dimmock the chemistry they share is unshakeable, both live and in the studio, having grown up together listening to the likes of Conan, Sleep and Darkthrone. Still in their twenties both bring an unmistakable energy and ferocity that has marked them out as UK Sludge Metal’s most exiting prospects.

This November the boys are back with an EP to showcase just how ferocious they can truly be. Recorded with Gallows’ producer Steve Sears, The Monolith Sessions features three tracks of electric, live-wire sludge that for the first time really captures the band’s spirit and sound away from the studio.

Released on 8th November 2019, the EP can be pre-ordered in advance directly from Riff Rock Records HERE.

Stream and share the live version of ‘Beneath’ below:

“It’s an open secret that Tuskar need to be be experienced live. This proves, however, they’ll crush you in the comfort of your living room, too.”
KKKK, KERRANG!

“For being relative newcomers to the game—Tuskar formed in 2016—The Tide, Beneath, The Wall is a big step forward for the band, who are ones to watch.”
DECIBEL MAGAZINE

“The Milton Keynes sludge duo get even heavier on their second EP […] bolstering thick riffs with genuinely inventive drumming.”
METAL HAMMER

“YOU’RE NUCLEAR SLUDGE! GREAT NAME! IT’S SCORCHED INTO MY BRAIN!”
PANDORA, KERRANG!

News, Releases

WOODHAWK: Calgarian Riffs of Prey Return with VIOLENT NATURE | Stream New Single and Album Pre-order

20/09/2019 shelteredlifepr

“Take Red Fang, The Sword and Witchcraft, strip them of nearly all distortion and add a canny knack for catchy riffs, with a psychedelic edge, and you arrive at the dusty doorstep of Calgarian stoner rockers Woodhawk!” WORSHIP METAL

Hailing from the foothills of the majestic Rocky Mountains, Woodhawk are undeniable masters of riff rock, harnessing the classic influences of Black Sabbath and Thin Lizzy with smooth grooves, cranked-up amps, and hard-hitting drums that coalesce into an impressive soundscape for the listener to explore.

With lyrical themes that span the imagination and incorporate elements of science fiction, mythicism and the more contemporary struggles of modern times, Woodhawk proudly wear their hearts on their sleeves.

Formed in 2014, following the release of their self-titled EP, the band returned with the critically acclaimed full length Beyond the Sun in 2017. A melodically rich and varied album, steeped in sci-fi vibes catchy riffs, Beyond the Sun cemented Woodhawk’s status as a desert rock band with the kind of potential to power from terrafirma into the great unknown.

Returning to Rain City Recorders in Vancouver earlier this year, Woodhawk worked with Jesse Gander (Anciients, Bison, 3 Inches of Blood, Japandroids, Pack AD) to record their sophomore album Violent Nature, which is due for official release this November. Over the course of two weeks, Woodhawk tracked their strongest effort yet, producing songs that addressed the struggles of mental health on new material that abandoned the world of fantasy in pursuit of emotional authenticity and self-discovery. Grounded with one foot in the present and another in the future, Woodhawk’s outlook is as boundless as their command of the genre.

Violent Nature by Woodhawk is released 1st November 2019 and can be pre-ordered HERE. Stream and share new song ‘Weightless Light’ below.