There is a warmth in my heart that glows every time I hear Six Songs by Melvins, Buzz Osbourne’s brutal guitar album. I have a similar reaction listening to Neurosis, previous to their more intimate flirtations with post rock. In listening to Belfast trio Slomatics' attempt to carry the lantern further with this sound, I can admire the force of Slomatics’ guitar sound and listen with appreciative ears at how awesome this may come off at particularly high volumes, yet it doesn’t really pierce through the surface, simply because it fails to shrug off the shallowness of this imitative approach.
Slomatics does, undoubtedly, pinpoint the shuddering post-Melvins guitar sound that many bands have attempted to achieve, and Kalceanna sustains this epic sludge sound with fair unity for its duration. As much as it would be easy to condemn Slomatics for being unoriginal, they take the admirable step of not incorporating a bass guitar in their atmospheric sludge metal sound, retaining an absolutely punishing heavy aesthetic regardless. However, there is a similarly undeniable issue with slipping into a sound that has been done up to twenty years previously to greater effect. Slomatics ultimately suffer from following the footsteps of Neurosis, early Isis, and in a broader sense, Melvins themselves.
When you look into the details of Slomatics’ approach, it is also easy to be annoyed at its tendency to use particularly tired approaches to the genre -- and Kalceanna tip-toes the line between the spectacular and grindingly boring. Strangely, the band is aided by the shorter lengths of most of the songs of this album. Where Slomatics are successful, they establish this spectacular guitar sound with a brevity that doesn’t sacrifice size and force. Where they are unsuccessful, in particular, they descend into an incessant powerchord match that loses the texture of its low end.
It is then unfortunate that Slomatics are unable to resurrect the notability of this release by sustaining this texture throughout the entire release. However, the size of Slomatics’ sound at their best is something that even Buzz Osbourne himself would be proud of – huge enough, in one of the most bottom end-dependent corners of metal, to render the bass guitar redundant.
- Marcus Whale