The crushing instrumental Doom Sludge Psych band from New York set fire to four Christmas songs. It will help you get rid of the earworms you suffer from the Christmas songs that seep into your ear whether you want them to or not these days.

They have set their eyes (or instruments) on four songs and released an enjoyable festive EP. In the last years we have had Santa Sabbath writing new Christmas lyrics to classic Black Sabbath songs with albums like “Children of the Sleigh” or the compilation We Wish You a Metal Christmas to name a couple. But never have Christmas songs been treated more crushingly than with the instrumental fuzzy Stoner Sludge on this EP.

So while waiting for the band´s next release in March 2024 you can light up your pre-Christmas days with their take on a song that gives you an earworm just reading the title ”All I Want for Christmas Is You”. But when you have done a couple of runs through of this band’s fuzzy wah-wah-induced riffs and some high-pitched soloing, this will replace any earworm you have. Even if the band is heavier than most they have a kind of easy-going take on the song with the bass and drums supporting the main guitar and the dense riffs. This song will never remain the same again for those who listen to this version.

Next up is a song made in 1966 as part of the film Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas!: ”You’re A Mean One, Mr. Grinch”. The slightly depraved song has gone into the repertoire for Christmas and the way it is handled by this band makes it sinister and tumultuous. It is heavy and tight with a slight wah-wah in the fuzz. Stompingly rhythmic until it swirls into a sense of dissonant chaos before it wakes up again. The drums push the instruments away for a short while but then they fuse together again, often dissonant and un-rhythmic. It is utterly well performed, even when it collapses toward the end.

If the first two are “serious” songs done with tongue in cheek, the third song is originally written with the tongue in cheek, Spinal Tap´s ”Christmas With The Devil” - a parody of eldering Metal bands trying to make Christmas songs. Hence, when you are eager for the new Spinal Tap-film, you can enjoy Clouds Taste Satanic´s heavy, slightly psychotic take on the Spinal Tap Christmas song where they even dip into some Thrash Metal sounds. The guitar is swirling above the dense heavy melodic floor of music.

The drums open the last song as the high-pitched guitar slides in from the side. It is of course ”Little Drummer Boy”. The rhythmic hard-hitting drums followed by the low-end bass are the foundations for the riffs and the wah-wah-induced fuzzy guitar holds the melody all along. The riffs become denser as the melody swells with a high-pitched guitar swirling between the swells lending a crushing crescendo to end the EP.

Get in the mood with some yuletide beat from the incredible New Yorkers Clouds Taste Satanic.