Jumbo's Killcrane "The Slow Decay" CD
[Crucial Blast]
After a brief intro of droning feedback and sparse percussion, this trio of sludge merchants launches right into the aptly titled "The Slow Decay", with its pulsing rhythm and seething vocal screams creating a very sister wall of bleak doom, continuing to spice up the traditional framework with lots of winding math metal styled riffing and occasionally creative takes on 70's styled dual guitar runs. There are some hints at singing or spoken passages on occasion, but for the most part the vocals are quite an ominous attack, with just a little bit of a filter for added effect. Most of the songs are quite long (averaging seven to eight minutes each, give or take) but there are ample tempo changes to keep things interesting, using lots of stuttered chord progressions and midpaced rumblings, in addition to some slower and darker works more akin to the usual fare of "stoner rock"/doom type of stuff. I'd almost like to see more of an emphasis on the sinister side of things, as the quirkier riffing definitely lends a very different feel to the songs, while the slower chords often become quite powerfully atmospheric. The somewhat shorter "Locust Blanket" slows down to a killer crunch in its latter moments with a few subtle melodic underpinnings; and "Die, Stabbed." gets into some spacious riffing that lets the bass have a little more roaming room, as well as containing some distant lead lines for its closing instrumental break. "The Slow Decay", however, is definitely the strongest song herein, and it just so happens to revolve more around the band's heavy hitting doomy side. The recording is very nice this time out. Stronger than the last record, with a thick and gritty sense of distortion textures applied to both the bass (pulsing and throbbing a lot) and the guitars (nice and fuzzed out). The percussion sounds totally natural, and the vocals rest right in with the instrumentation, so as a whole the mix is warm and full. I don't really have any complaints, honestly. I'm not saying it's perfect, but it suits them well. I'm torn on the layout. Something about it is a little plain and choppy, perhaps the photography isn't quite crisp enough or the typeface needs work, but it's almost there, as the style of the imagery and the simplicity are pretty nice. No lyrics are included, just a onecard insert with minimal text credits, so... This is a strong effort overall. There are a few lulls where it can start to wear thin with lots of rhythmic repetition and such, but looking at the big picture it's cool to see a band taking a different spin to this style without going so far that it would alienate the genre's more faithful listeners. Not bad. (7/10)
Running time - 40:45, Tracks: 6
[Notable tracks: The Slow Decay, Locust Blanket]
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