August is but a warm, sunny memory and All Hallows Eve is upon us. Good thing we finally de-gunkified those August Filters to avoid tricks.
Sludge Metal
AMG’s Unsigned Band Rodeö: Acrid Rot – Where Flesh Transcends… Man Stands Tall
A Rodeö just for the chilly members of the AMG Freezer Crew? Maybe when it snows in Hell!
Tombs – Feral Darkness Review
“This is my first time reviewing Brooklyn’s Tombs, but it’s not my first time experiencing them. Each year that a new Tombs drops, I feel the hype machine churning from the community, which I love, disinterring my interest in the sludgy, blackened call Tombs is now known so well for. It’s been five years since the somewhat divisive Under Sullen Skies first graced my ears, and now I take over for Doom_et_Al to serve at the foot of Feral Darkness.” Buried in Brooklyn dirt.
Stuck in the Filter: July 2025’s Angry Misses
July Filters get sticky from the heat. It takes time to cool em down and unstickify those rascals. We did it though, for YOU.
Modder – Destroying Ourselves for a Place in the Sun Review
“Blending sludge metal and electronica make for fascinating bedfellows, and that’s exactly what instrumental outfit Modder brings to the table with Destroying Ourselves for a Place in the Sun. I don’t recall encountering this genre combo before, but the unlikely pairing fits together in compelling and novel ways. Destroying Ourselves for a Place in the Sun is one part early Mastodon and one part The Prodigy, and it works better in practice than I’d ever expect it to on paper.” Sun mode.
Farseer – Portals To Cosmic Womb Review
“Growing up together in the Chicago suburb of Cary, Farseer’s Brendan McCarthy (guitars/vocals), Ted Ballantine (guitar), George Burrows (bass), and Kyle Curtis (drums) have been playing music together since the 8th grade. It wasn’t until they returned to the Chicago area after college, the four intent on applying their years of collaboration to a single, focused project, that Farseer formed in 2016. Their 2019 self-titled debut constituted forty-six minutes of progressively psychedelic stoner sludge, setting a solid foundation for Farseer to build from. Now six years on, stalwart line-up intact, Farseer prepare to release their second record, Portals To Cosmic Womb.” See the portal!
Hibernaut – Obsidian Eye Review
“It was only a matter of time before I found a group from my hometown to write about. Operating in Salt Lake City, Utah, Hibernaut plays a mixture of doom, stoner, sludge, and psych. Though the band is newer—having formed in 2020—its members have plenty of prior experience in the metal underground. Two of them, Dave Jones and Zach Hatsis, were even part of the now defunct SubRosa at one point. Hibernaut’s sophomore album, Obsidian Eye, relates a sci-fi/horror story about a mysterious interdimensional entity that infects, kills, and reanimates people in order to spread its influence.” Eye infections.
Stuck in the Filter: April 2025’s Angry Misses
The April Filters are now fully de-scuzzified. You can approach and examine the scuzz flotsam.
Stuck in the Filter: March 2025’s Angry Misses
March Filters bring summer bewilders when missed, so come see what we found in the iron scrapings.
Swans – Birthing Review
“It’s hard to keep up with Swans. Since 1982, Michael Gira and company have cranked out sixteen studio albums, eight EPs, and ten live albums (not to mention all the compilations and side projects), influencing underground stalwarts like Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Neurosis, Godflesh, and Napalm Death, as well as more mainstream acts like Nirvana and Tool. No genre was safe, as noise rock, no-wave, industrial, sludge, post-punk, and post-rock were impacted in the process – yet Swans have always had their own inimitable and uncategorizable sound.” Still on the pond.
