Description
Words like ‘heavy’, ‘crushing’, ‘massive’ get thrown around so much nowadays when it comes to Sludge and Doom, that it pretty much rendered the terms meaningless. Is it really as trite as playing a few power chords on a low tuned guitar through a fuzz pedal and maxed out amp? Is it just a cock measuring contest of who can play louder at the end of the day? (you’ll never be louder than Motörhead, anyway) If that is the bar, then yeah, there’s plenty of ‘heavier’ bands out there. However, if you’re tired of hearing unoriginal copies of your favourite slow bands again and again, Couch might be your thing.
Deciding to get rid of vocals altogether and replacing them with samples is a bold move but Couch pull it off masterfully. Not only that: the songs are composed in a way that really allows them to be in the forefront. The choice of samples seems deliberate, not your average audio cut-out from some forgotten horror B-movie. Instead, we’re getting sermoned by the delusional and scheming messengers of the Lord from some of the most convoluted pockets of Christianity – if i’m not mistaken – by Marshall Applewhite of the notorious Heaven’s Gate in the very beginning and the end of the EP and others, whose names I thankfully don’t know, ecstatically raving about drug abuse, premarital sex and other soul corrupting pitfalls of the physical world. At times, it almost feels like you’re listening to a recording of a very unwell church band. The instrumentation and playing is really sparse even for a Sludge outfit, they possess another quality that is sorely missed from a lot of bands – restraint.
From minimal feedback-laden drones to jangly clean guitar melodies that sound like they were played by a person high on every single downer combined, nothing feels out of place or forced. Don’t get the wrong idea, this is 100% Sludge, no Post-Metal nonsense or slowed down beatdown Hardcore breaks – just dirty, anxious and bluesy misery with a very unique touch. “The earth is about to be recycled” tells us Applewhite at the start of Grieving Mothers and if Couch are any indication of that, seems like Sludge is as well – and it’s about time.
Limited to 50 copies on clear purple tape with foldout inlay
