Band's List Industrial Black Thaw (PL) Thaw

I expected quite a lot from this album, hearing it was a fusion of Atmospheric Black and Sludge Metal I expected something atmospherically powerful whilst also being intense as well. Thaw however pulled a “Dead as Dreams” and stretched their musical ideas out way too much to the point of stagnation. Whatever good moments on Thaw are buried within a layer of atmospherically stale music that doesn't achieve anything.

I think I'll start with the negative aspects of review, usually because they're the easiest to critique. The main glaring problem with Thaw is that simply put; it's boring. The songs are stretched out too long in order to allow room for a large amount of droning atmospherics that don't really create an atmosphere. They're a useless addition and stretch out the tracks way more than they need to be. Droning ambiance is really not something I am against, it can work wonders at times but Thaw don't really create an ambiance but more of the impression that they are really bored playing this. Everything just feels languid and worn out, like it was slowed down in the recording studio, it's quite an odd feel but the songs definitely don't feel like they were made to be played this slow. They would honestly sound better if they were shortened and if the absolutely useless droning ambiance was removed. When a whole album creates nothing but the sense that the band were half asleep during recording then it becomes incredibly taxing and boring to listen to, almost excruciating.

Well now I've got the negatives out of the way is there any good moments? Yes actually, when the band drops the droning ambiance they are capable of creating some really compelling sludge inspired Black Metal that is fairly entertaining to listen to. It's pretty intense and helps to stop this album from being completely shit. However they're the only good things about this album as everything else is just completely abysmal.

The main problem with Thaw is how utterly empty everything feels. The music feels thin, shallow and detached, it's not entertaining to listen to because the whole thing is so worn out that it just doesn't stand out to me. It's just really unmemorable and there's nothing really interesting about this release. They seem to think that ambiance is created by the use of uninteresting droning soundscapes, let me fill you in, it isn't. Drone music generally works because the music is suited to the speed everything is played at, Sunn O))) know how to create good drone because they adjust their music in order for it to create an atmosphere within the inaccessible and esoteric nature of drone music. When a band has no idea on how to create an excellent droning atmosphere then the results falls flat on its face. Thaw is just a really boring release full of stale atmospherics and a general lack of anything interesting. I'm out.