ninehertz

Self-described as “sludge n roll”, this demo from Norwegian’s Gud gives little other info away, but that tag alone is worth a listen.

There are five tracks here and it is sludge from the get-go, as shrieking alien noises welcome us in, barely turning any more human as it turns to the vocals proper. It is formed of a satisfyingly slow and minimal doom, just hanging on the base riff, letting the tone drip and stain the room, maybe in Meth Drinker realms. It picks up pace into a messy splurge the longer it goes, finding themselves within the crust and slime of punk worlds as it does.

The track Gud has thick doom tone drive, somewhere between a rawer Come My Fanatics-era Electric Wizard and Eyehategod, a loose and sloppy sounding wonderful mess of sludge noise. Dystopia are a good reference point throughout, although there are times when they drop down into truly turgid, desperation levels of slowness too.

The “sludge n roll” is most accurately created on the final track Jeg er redd as some fancy guitar work struggles to break free of its slimy grime masking through a rocking beat, a track that could easily be a different genre altogether were it not buried beneath a mountain of messy static and noise. For a demo, this is high quality sludge and as thus holds plenty of promise for the future.