ninehertz

From the beginning, Trudger felt destined for big things. Being from the same county as the ninehertz base (South Yorkshire) we were lucky to see them live fairly often early on, and they were great before their years – a steamrollering, tight sludge and post-metal machine. This progressed to wider recognition, especially with the release of their excellent Dormiveglia album. That was 2014 – and then things went quiet.

They apparently didn’t split, just drifted apart geographically, but now return in spectacular style, ready to carry on that upward trajectory with no need for a backward step. The album is preleased on fledgling label Floodlit Recordings, and one listen through is enough to make you think they’ll be making waves in the wider metal world, not limited to the UK doom underground.

The production is immediately powerful, under the control of label-owner Joe Clayton (also of Pijn). Heavier music at our end of the genre scales can sometimes suffer from too much shine, losing the requisite coarseness, but not here – it sounds massive, Trudger amplified and providing a satisfying chunkiness to the riffs throughout.

There’s a nice line in their bio of labelling themselves “neo-crust sci fi death sludge” – which translates into the listening experience as hard to pigeonhole fully. It feels technically advanced in that post-metal and post-Remission approach to sludge that burned brightly a decade and a half or so ago, then somewhat died down but never felt exhausted – Trudger are here and well placed to lead its resurrection.

There are moments where their links to Dvne (featuring an ex-member of the Edinburgh lot in their ranks) become evident, particularly their earlier albums, maybe even something in here for those who pine for the early Baroness EPs. At it’s best Void Quest harnesses this raw emotion whilst retaining its aggressive energy and weight.

Trudger are back and its like they’ve never been away. This is top tier modern day UK metal, making a jump out of the underground similarly to how Conjurer did before them, likely to bother the bookers of big tours and festivals such as Arctangent and Damnation in the near future, and a real statement of intent right now.