Undersmile - Narwhal

Undersmile - Narwhal
Genre: Metal/Sludge
Rating: 9/10

Sludge has had quite a prolific revival over the past few years slowly expanding and overtaking Post-Metal as the latest big trend in the alternative metal scene. Unfortunately as soon as a sound becomes lucrative there is always throngs of copycats who do nothing but ride on the coat tails of other more successful artists. Thankfully that cannot be said of Oxford quartet Undersmile who have been slowly creating waves and solidifying a stellar reputation on the underground metal circuit. Narwhal is the bands highly anticipated debut LP and was released earlier this year on Future Noise Recordings. Running in at just shy of the 80 minute mark Narwhal is a huge album soaked in dread.

The bands sound whilst very characteristic of the genre retains a unique identity thanks to the singing talents of their two female vocalists and guitarists, Hel Sterne and Taz Corona-Brown. Whilst many of the bands peers seem to rely solely on guttural roars Undersmile temper this with haunting almost choral dual melodies that help create the albums dark atmosphere. The rhythm section is a fairly standard sludge affair, fuzzy and sinister bass grooves unfurl at a snails pace whilst crashing cymbals keep time like some ungodly metronome. The riffs on display are slow, crushing behemoths of distortion that only relent occasionally, giving way to sparse and airy melodic interludes, before throwing you headfirst back into the firing line. Whilst this is undoubtedly not an album for the faint hearted somehow in spite of its fearsome dark atmosphere and its exceptionally long tracks it is quite an easy album to be hypnotized by. Highlights include the 16 minute masterpiece "Myra" which showcases all of Undersmile's strengths, slow burning vitriolic guitar, shifting time signatures and a combination of melodic vocals and blood curdling roars. "Berk" is another stand out track with its minimalistic beginning slowly building pace to a harrowing conclusion. The only downside to the whole album is that it is very much something that needs to be enjoyed as a whole rather than something you can just drop into. This isn't really a criticism though as it speaks to the strength of the atmosphere of all encompassing doom that they have strived to create.

Overall Narwhal is one of the most powerful and accomplished debuts I've heard in a long time. I would highly recommend it to anyone into Sludge, Metal or Doom. Highly recommended.

Download: "Myra" "Lockjaw"