Sludge Phenomenon
Paradox (ep)
Wydane przez Self-financedRok wydania Kraj BelgiumNapisał Wouter7
Sludge Phenomenon hail from Belgium and this "Paradox" EP is their debut effort. The band seems heavily inspired by modern metal acts as Textures, Meshuggah, Scarve or Mnemic. The three tracks ('The Golden Asylum', 'Exuviate' and 'The Cycle') that make up this EP all consist of Textures-like nervous riffs with Meshuggah styled polyrhythmic mechanical beats and barked rasping death grunts in the vein of Obituary's John Tardy, Pestilence's Martin van Drunen or more recently Emeth's Tom Kimps (like their "Reticulated" record). Given that Tristan Michiels' range isn't quite as wide as earlier mentioned vocalists, he's one of the more convincing vocalists I've heard. Delivering nearly 20 minutes of music, there are still a number of facets that Sludge Phenomenon need to work on. First of, the logo, lay-out and artwork are just plain horrible and terribly unfitting for an impressive musical package as is presented here. With artwork by someone like Travis Smith, Dennis Sibeijn or Carlos Del Olmo Holmberg and a professionally rendered logo this would immediately put the band above and beyond the level of just another demo act, which they nearly skip with this EP. The production values are reasonably impressive given the short time this band has been around and that that this EP was recorded in a rather obscure studio. The guitar tone is thick and meaty, vocals are up and center, the drum sound is a bit too sterile and clinical - those things aside the "Paradox" EP suffers from surprisingly few demo trappings. Given that Sludge Phenomenon keep honing their craft and work out those few earlier mentions missteps - they'll be an interesting and promising combo to keep an eye upon in the coming years.
www.sludgephenomenon.be
