London’s Slabdragger Cut Loose Smashing New Single
Would ya believe…17 tracks? The new split between US and UK bands is nothing short of sick. We’ve got Slabdragger from London and Wallowing from Brighton joining two New York bands, Thin and Vixen Maw, for one extreme metal meltdown on the Sludgelord Records and Black Voodoo Records labels.
Many longtime Doomers have a special place in their libraries for SLABDRAGGER, whose name for so long has been apropos to slow ‘n’ low, blues-infused rhythms and devastatingly heavy riffs. When the band teased out new material from Thin on social media a few weeks ago, I was among those excited (though admittedly apprehensive) to find out what Slabdragger would be offering in response.
Chaotic and cacophonous, the band’s sudden shift in an extreme metal direction put a bit of the old fear o’ God in me. I confess being a bit perplexed, but definitely excited to hear more. It’s as though they’d endured one lockdown too many and snapped, channeling all of their aggression in a hardcore/powerviolence direction, with the same sludgy underbelly Slabdragger has long been known for.
Today, Doomed & Stoned is giving you a first listen to one of three Slabdragger tracks, “Phobos,” from the forthcoming 4-way, which puts the band in good company with other sludge-infused grind and death acts. Taken as a whole, the record is nothing short of invigorating.
Being the wannabe scholar that I am, I couldn’t help but delve into the song title a little deeper. Phobos, as you may have guessed, is related to our English word phobia and its ancient Greek origins originally signified fear personified. Phobos, after all, was the god not of war, but the embodiment of the sheer terror induced by the prospect of strange invaders marching towards the conquest of your city.
Seeing how we’ve been fighting an invisible, shapeshifting enemy for almost two years now with SARS-COV-2 running amok, exploring parallels with ancient history is irresistable. The concept of phobos is so deeply rooted in the human experience that we still use it today when we speak of phobias (mine is fear of heights, what’s yours?).
Slabbdragger’s “Phobos” sounds like the urgent drums of war, alright, and it should good and damn well whet your appetite for the extraordinary chaos that lies ahead. You can pre-order the forthcoming full-length split via Sludgelord Records and Black Voodoo Records, issuing a US and UK vinyl edition along with cassette and, of course, digital renditions right here and here (official release date: September 30th).
Give ear…
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14 years, 2 albums, 2 splits, a global pandemic and now with hundreds of miles between them, Slabdragger return more abrasive and urgent than ever before. With Jack Newnham on drums, Yusuf Tary on bass and vocals and Sam Thredder on guitar and vocals, Slabdragger entered Thredder’s Cro’s Nest Studio once again and laid down 3 short and blisteringly heavy bangers. On this latest release, the band says, “We have drawn more influence from hardcore, powerviolence and d-beat to create a short blast of video game themed sludge violence. It is Slabdragger, condensed. Expect no let up”
Sludgelord Records and Black Voodoo Records are proud to announce the release of a new four-way split between Wallowing, Vixen Maw, Slabdragger, and Thin, to be released on September 30th on tape and digital formats, with vinyl pre-orders opening soon and arriving on a later date. The split sees four distinct bands from the UK and US coming together to offer a full-length’s worth of aural onslaught and relentless musical prowess, genre-wise varying from doom and sludge to mathcore and grindcore. All of the bands have their own visions they’re pursuing by their own means, yet share an eerily similar mindset when it comes to approaching claustrophobia-inducing, aggressive music.
Whether you’re familiar with one of the bands, all of them, or even none of them, you’re guaranteed to find each of them unique and enjoyable on their own rights. While putting a split of this caliber together is as monumental task as it is a momentous one, the end result is of equal dimensions in terms of sonic weight and importance. All of the above is shrouded in amazing artwork by Ibay Arifin, coming in two different colour schemes to mirror two of the bands being from the UK, and two from the US.