The Newcastle quintet are back with another slab hearty rock and from the off, it feels like they are out for your blood. They are moving ever closer towards “traditional” track-listings on their albums, this time stepping up from the three on debut “Feed The Rats”, six on their second “King Of Cowards” now with eight on their third album “Viscerals”. The result is something which makes the band feel a bit leaner, but at the same time still and absolute beast.
“Reducer” is what I imagine would be the soundtrack if one was riding a flaming chariot through the gates of hell and that is only a good thing! Their heaviness has always drawn comparisons from the likes of other classic British acts such as Sabbath and the influences are very clear, particularly on “New Body”. It’s what you would define as “sludge metal” the down tuned guitars chug along as Baty shouts out “I don’t feel a thing”. Things are broken up with a short spoken word interlude before “World Crust” which has a collective sound and musicianship which could easily rival “Mastodon”.
Pigs x7 surprisingly do have a mainstream appeal and is probably a reason for the reduction in 17-minute-long epics. “Hell’s Teeth” which closes things off feels like their most “accessible” so to speak track to date. “Rubbernecker” is also something you feel like you can listen to on the radio, despite there being a new riff that comes along every 30 seconds or so.
A shout out must go to the production on the record which as along with their previous efforts makes the sound so impactful. The title “Viscerals” is pretty apt as by the end you feel as though you have been pounded and assaulted with a barrage of riffs for 40 minutes. Whilst they may have trimmed down some of their size, they haven’t lost any of their impact. On the evidence of their third album, it’s likely that they are only going to get bigger from here on out.