Sludge Metal act Lord Dying are back with an impossibly heavy second album.
Lord Dying are a 4 piece sludge metal band hailing from Portland, Oregon. Formed in 2010 and releasing their debut album Summon the Faithless in 2013 the band made a massive impact with their brand of doom infused heavy metal.
The band have earned a massive following in the doom scene from touring with the likes of Down, Ghost, Black Tusk and Red Fang. They have now released their follow up album Poisoned Altars which unbelievably is heavier than Summon.
One of the things I want to outline about this album is that it is big fat and heavy but not in a way that makes me want to take away their Sabbath albums and hide them from them until they get their own ideas. I’m so tired of these throwback doom/stoner bands that just sound like they’ve be recycling the same Sabbath riffs from 1971 but with just an additional layer of distortion over it. Its tired, its played out and it hasn’t been done well in the last 15-20 years.
These guys on the other hand have huge fat riffs and they just don’t stop coming. Produced by Toxic Holocaust main man Joel Grind this album has taken a major leaps ahead from the first.
The vocals are raw and brutal with frontman Erik Olson really hitting that Kirk Windstein-esque howl. The mixing is fat and the low end is huge. The riffage on this album is very reminiscent of the first 2 Mastodon albums but without the progressive changes, just straight forward heavy riffage. Its just one massive slab of sludge all the way through without losing any of the clarity in the mixing. Its sludgy and very fat but not muddy at any point
The album opens up with the ultra heavy title track and the album doesn’t let up. Through tracks like “An Open Sore” and the epic album closer “Darkness Remains” the heaviness just doesn’t stop. The whole album is built around pure riffage and it really works.
In a time when there are so many bands taking unoriginal approaches to music like the many djent bands, the copy and paste metalcore acts and the stoner Sabbath clones I previously mentioned, its great to have a band taking a straight forward approach. This album is heavy from start to finish and doesn’t disappoint at any time. There are no low points.
This album is perfect for fans of Down, Crowbar and High On Fire. If you want ultra heavy bone crushing metal that still feels incredibly raw and authentic without losing any of the advantages of modern mixing than you will want to pick this one up.
Poisoned Altars is out now through Relapse Records
http://www.relapse.com/label/lord-dying.html
http://lorddying.bandcamp.com/
http://www.facebook.com/LordDying
http://twitter.com/lorddying
http://instagram.com/lorddying
