Artist: Lo!
Title: Look And Behold
Genre: Sludge Metal/ Hardcore
Release Date: 23rd September 2011
Label: Pelagic Records
Album Review
LO!’s debut album touches between Hardcore and Sludge Metal for this quartet from Australia. Featuring lengthy, churning guitar passages that mirror bands such as NEUROSIS or CROWBAR, the band also tends to include some Rock elements as well that are similar to groups like MASTODON (earlier works, that is) where aggressive, bellowing vocals on top of rather catchy guitars that sounded more Thrash tinged than Hardcore, builds the fury. The track ‘Deluge’ is an excellent example of this as it will just blast away at times and then suddenly jump into a crazy, technical part that seems almost out of tune, but it still very catchy. There is an audible fuzzy distortion surrounding all the music so it is not quite the crisp, clean style that some might be used to. Other tracks like ‘Hued Tarantula’ are even slower and harsher to hear, sounding a bit like DEATHSPELL OMEGA in its slow, brooding way with Hardcore vocals instead of the twisted Black Metal ones. Here, the band stretches the music for an epic length of seven minutes, performing passages that seems like it is meant for more meditational music such as that by EARTH; lots of sections repeats itself over and over and tend to be instrumental focused. The whole hypnotic style is actually quite lulling.
As far as atmosphere is concerned, LO! do their best when creating music that isn’t Sludge or Hardcore Metal at all. ‘Seraphim’ is a brief, classical piece that sounds like echoing piano in a church while ‘Doth’ continues the tone, but includes some more guitars in the background and sounds a lot clearer. Both these tracks serve as “rest” points for the album which is a good break from all the churning slower parts that try to bring in atmosphere, but still sound a bit too rough around the edges. ‘Moira Kindle’ is the only track that really breathes any sort of “hypnotic rock” into the music as LO! include some low clean vocals that sound a bit like QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE during the verses, and tone down the music as well before exploding into the heavier passages. It’s a bit different from all the other tracks which are mostly just screaming with a mix of chugging guitars. The band even goes for a bit of a solo vocal moment where everyone just chimes in together in chorus, thundering away like a drinking song before opening up to the closing track. It can be considered experimentally artistic or a waste of time, but fans might treat these little moments as a good way of smoothing out the rough and repetitive edges that Sludge Metal usually carries with it. The slower tracks certainly are repetitive, so the faster tracks add a bit more energy and will prevent listeners from being completely bored. Overall, the debut from LO! is a good mix of Hardcore that tries to be more dynamic rather than just chug the entire time, and will appease to fans that enjoy both the heavy end of the spectrum and even the soft ones, which are not as predictable as they seem.
Tracklist
01. Hath - 00:59
02. Deluge (Carnivorous Flux) - 5:24
03. Bastion - 4:24
04. Seraphim - 1:29
05. Hued Tarantula - 7:56
06. Aye, Commodore - 3:54
07. Indigo Division - 3:07
08. Doth - 3:10
09. Moira Kindle - 5:52
10. Fire At The Child Actors Guild - 2:56
Website
http://www.lookandbehold.net/
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 7
Sound: 7
Total: 7 / 10
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