Dopethrone come out swinging on their latest monolithically heavy album, are you ready?.
Someone on a popular social media site (on a specific group) recently asked about names of bands and it affects how you perceive them. It was a great question and honestly, you could write entire novels on this topic and still not answer it properly. So, when Canadian DIY Sludge Metal enthusiasts Dopethrone named their new album Broke Sabbath, well, you can hazard a pretty good guess as to exactly how it’s going to sound. And you’d be half right. Whilst the riffs here are plentiful and ‘Sabbathian’ at their core, the whole thing is much closer in nature to something that fellow Sludge aficionados Weedeater dug up from the swamp, covered in shit and god knows what else. This album is as heavy as a black hole and as gritty as a back alley brawl.
The album kicks off with “Life Kills You”, a towering behemoth of a track, setting the tone for the rest of the journey. Fuzz-drenched riffs cascade like molten lava, while vocalist Vince pounds out guttural incantations that could summon demons from the abyss. If you’ve ever seen the film From Dusk Till Dawn then this song would be what the house band would play if it was a real place!
Speaking of horror films, the whole album plays like a soundtrack to the end of the world, death to us all by zombie apocalypse, buzzsaw guitars dragging and shuffling their way forward, enveloping and consuming everything in their path. If there’s a musical equivalent of a psychedelic acid trip gone horribly wrong, this is it. It’s a relentless assault on the senses that leaves you gasping for air.
Things don’t get any brighter over the album, “ABAC” is like a death march comprised of every monster, lowlife, villain and scumbag you can think of having a throw down in a swamp. Slow and sludgy, it lumbers forward like a wounded beast, leaving a trail of smoke and destruction in its wake. The riffs are as thick as pea soup, enveloping you in a haze of distortion that’s impossible to escape. “Rock Slock” picks up the pace and is, if anything, even more terrifying in its intensity, pounding drums and a bass tone so thick, it makes a pea souper seem like light mist. When the song slows down, it’s the equivalent of walking through tar, in a diving suit.
The whole album sounds as if the songs were dragged fighting and screaming from each and every musician in the band. There is not an ounce of wasted fat of this album it’s a lean mean, arse kicking machine and really does not mess about in any way, shape or form. It’s here to rock your world, whether you are up to the task or not, the feint of heart need not apply here.
With Broke Sabbath, Dopethrone have crafted a brutal slab of Sludge encrusted metal that feels neolithic in its approach. It’s as menacing as it is mesmerizing. From the bone-crushing riffs to the guttural vocals, every aspect of this album oozes with intensity and raw power. As mentioned previously, it’s not for the faint of heart, but for those willing to brave the storm, it’s a journey they won’t soon forget.
