Fourth Seal, The

“Chicago Sludge Metal”. Putting the heavy in Heavy Metal. Basic heavy rock, no wankfest guitars, no high drama church organs, certainly nothing remotely hair-metal, just your basic heavy rawk. A dark doominess to this but this isn’t “doom”, its just that all real metal has a doominess when done right. Like Sabbath had they evolved down a darker even heavier phylogenetic tree limb. Reminds me of better Sepultura, Kiss It Goodbye. Though they call themselves “sludge” I find it a little more accessible, upbeat than what gets that moniker around here.

1) (6:26) starts basic head nodding metal riff, builds heavy, some harmonized slow guitar melodies toward end, nothing wanky 2) (5:51) more of a basic rock feel, less doomy but still super heavy 3)* (6:45) pounding rockin, with quiet break in middle, then some searing guitar leads and heaviness 4)* (8:46) super huge, big and heavy with slower breakdown toward end 5) (5:43) big discordant guitar chords, Sepultura Roots comes to mind in the upbeat yet dark feel that ensues 6) (4:38) almost accessible sound, dare I mention Mettalica? Rockin dude 7) (7:07) dark riff, sludgey doomy as promised 8)* (5:34) cool riff and good rhythmic beat 9) (7:41) doomy scary tone, minor slow riff, sabbathy, long fade-out