Nightslug is a German band, formed in 2011. 'Loathe' is their second album, blessed with a perfect title to describe the music. The band is firmly rooted in the punk and hardcore scene but expanded their nihilistic and hateful world view into an even more aggressive style of music. There's an overwhelming amount of crushing riffs, punishing drums and pissed-off vocals. The vocals sometimes seem to fade away behind a thick wall-of-noise (not sound, noise).
Now I've heard a lot of sludge metal since I started this website but none of them were as brutal as this one. Nightslug incorporates elements from industrial, doom and even black metal into their music, but only the most wicked and agonizing ones. The result is a steamroller of downtuned madness, preparing to leave absolutely no survivors. For the main part, the music is slow and bleak and only welcoming if you are prepared to go through hell.
Yet, I actually like this album more than I like most sludge-vehicles and it's mainly because of the vocals. Some readers may already know that I have a bit of a problem with sludge vocals. Often
they're mixed way too much into the foreground, overruling the music. On Loathe they're not. Here the vocals are somehwere in the back, providing the music with an extra instrument of destruction and an even more intense feel. In a way you can compare them to basement black metal albums from the nineties.
So, to conclude: sludge-fans all over the world, get your hands on this album, or at least try because it's quite limited. This just may become one of the pinnacles of your collection. Play it loud too, it's meant to blast, crush, destroy and conquer. Other people: there's a three-headed, sticky monster on it's way and there's simply no escaping...
Serge