ninehertz

April 20th nears so get ready for a splurge of sludge records with release dates nudged to tie in. And who better to lead that coughing charge than Tons, the Italian weed obsessives back with a new album through their compatriots at Heavy Psych Sounds.

This is a band that were brought up in the Bongzilla school of sludge, suckling on the teat of their hash pipe through their nurturing ages. They even shared a split with their presumed heroes a few years back. Judging by the first couple of tracks here, they’ve now graduated, moving out of their shadow and standing proudly on their own.

Yes, this is what I’d call the happy end of sludge, where bouncy grooves and non-stop genuflection to the joys of intoxicants are the name of the game. Shirley Temple Ball and then Hangover the Top open the album strongly, showcasing how this strain is best served, with aggressive, almost amphibian-yelping vocals reminding everyone it's not all slacker frivolity as battering ram guitars flesh out a bulky girth.

There are bands of this style who miss the point, and Tons walk a dangerous tightrope in the middle songs due to the same factors, where sludge can become a little too jokey (case: track six is entitled The Big Bong Theory), applied with a nod and a wink with the potential to lose the gutter vitality of the genre and cheapen the sound. They retain their balance, just about, but it is a drop off in quality versus the album's beginning.

Stoned Villains thankfully ends well however, as that almost-Indian level of venom in the vocals returns on Darth Vaper, the pace slows back to sludge’s natural gait and we’re back on track , and then the final song ups the pace, coalescing into a mega fast punk sludge blow out.

So in summary, not a perfect album, but it still contains lots of highs in every sense, in which moments Tons evidence again their worth at the top echelons of this side of the genre.