| Angry Hate/Sloth Split (12") | 1995 | None |
The other half of this split is inhabited by Angry Hate. These guys have never released anything except from the two splits they have with Sloth. The band consists of Seth Putnam from Anal Cunt and Larry Lifeless from Upsidedown Cross. Angry Hate is basically an extreme noise project with Sex Pistols style vocals. Bizarre and drunk beyond what any sane person would have imagined. This is definitely music from the gutter.
It's not often that one gets so many weird things on one release. Sadly only 500 copies seem to ever have been made. The split 7" is rumoured to have been re-released. Let's hope that this one does too.
Angry Hate:
1. The Only Thing
2. Shut Up
3. Pray To Damian Storm
4. Full Blast
5. Battles In The East
6. Hospital Song
Sloth:
7. To Nagly Wypadek
8. Dziekuje Za Przyjemna Wspolprace
9. Retarded Wizard
10. Pants Crapper
11. Prosze Bez Lodu
12. Obsessed With The Vocal Stylings Of Craig Pillard
Approx. 37 minutes
| As It Was, So It Will Be Forever (Demo) | 1996 | None |
Sloth definitely have punk attitudes as they go about making fun of authorities and wielding sarcastic comments like a sword. Yet they play a totally different genre. Sloth is a sludge core band and they play heavy, mean music. When I say mean, then I mean that this is the pissed "bite your head off" kind of music with plenty more frowning than any other sludge band I have come across.
It should be mentioned that there are two sludge bands with the name Sloth, one in the UK and one in the US. The one in question here is the US one and it can be distinguished from their name and genre cousins by the filthy sound.
Dom Kavelski, the vocalist, does some very interesting vocals on this album. He pronounces each word in a rusty voice and puts a heavy load on each one of them. It's not exactly rapping, but the vocals lie somewhere in-between rap and the vokills usually found in hardcore.
Having said all this, I must admit that I find not other bands in sludge that sound like Sloth. Fans of Crowbar and Eyehategod would surely enjoy this release, but they shouldn't expect the same kind of sludge. One could probably best summarize this demo by the words ‘original’ and ‘pissed’.
1. First Song
2. Second Song
3. First Song (Second Side)
4. Last Song
Approx. 12 minutes
| E. Pluribus Interuptus (Demo) | 1996 | Doom Records |
When you're looking at a doom metal band you really don't expect humour and especially not humour about yellow parody people. The first track contains a few audio clips from The Simpsons, but it is mostly about what seems to be a kids' song. The second track on the other hand is nearly 6 minutes of different pieces from The Simpsons. Most, if not all, come from episode 2 on season 5: "Cape Feare". It's the one where Sideshow Bob attempts to murder Bart. The rest of the tracks are Simpson-free.
I must admit that this demo isn't actually a doom metal release although track 5 is a sludge doom track and the background music on track 2 is quite doomy. The others vary between slightly sludgy hardcore to thrash/metalcore. They do still however have the filthy straight-from-the-gutter sound with a humorous bounce that is so typical for Sloth.
It seems to me that Sloth does what they want to exactly when they want to. Their "whatever" attitude is probably what makes their music so innovative. They simply don't put the slightest effort into making music that pleases anyone but themselves.
This release is probably more interesting to hardcore or non-doom sludge fans. However it must be said that if you can get hold of it, then do. The lack of possible comparisons makes this a highly interesting release in any case. Besides, the last track really is interesting for Eyehategod fans.
1. Last Temptation of Stroker Ace
2. Left Handed Astronaught
3. R.S.V.P.
4. Loaded
5. At The End
Approx. 18 minutes
| Joy is Gone from our Hearts (7") | 1996 | Unknown |
The sound of this release is probably closer to Worship than a sludge/doom band, as Sloth is. Horrible howls, sick dark vokills and a chipmunk are mixed with very minimalist and heavy riffs. Drench all of this in non-conventional noise influences and you have quite a good idea of the sound this release comes up with. And don't laugh at the chipmunk! It doesn't come out as silly as it sounds on paper. Rather, it sounds kinda ghoulish. As a last finishing touch, the classic vinyl sound adds its crackling noises to round the overall ambiance off perfectly.
Amongst all of this foul soup of sewage that comes dripping out of the speakers, there is also a section with clear vocals. And in fact it sounds quite mournful. The music doesn't drift far away from the filth earlier on, but it does give it a less sick feeling.
Just like so many of Sloth's releases this definitely requires a special taste. As mentioned earlier, it resembles Worship to some point, so fans who don't mind some experimentation should hear this. Sadly this oddity is also a rarity. Rather than globetrotting in an attempt to find a copy, I’d suggest your money would be better invested in a copy of their "best of" compilation CD. It does after all contain at least half of this gem.
1. Human Torch is Throwing Fireballs at You (Part 1)
2. Human Torch is Throwing Fireballs At You (Part 2)
Approx. 13 minutes
| Sloth / Of His Own Hand Split (7") | 1996 | None |
Despite the grooving, and sometimes even slightly psychedelic music, the lyrics hold on firmly to a rather pissed off mood. A strong testament to the fact that hardcore is the most negative face of punk music.
Ofhisownhand is a band that plays quite similar music to what Sloth offers on this split. One of their tracks is even slightly doomy. But on the other hand if you didn't know that this was a split, and the vocalist hadn't been very different, you could easily mistake this to be the product of only one band.
Only 100 of these 7" were ever produced, but this isn't one of the important releases in Sloths discography. Thus it's not so bad and the fans of grooving hardcore would still enjoy it if they manage to get their hands on it.
Sloth:
1. Action Not Words
2. Sweet Young Thing
Ofhisownhand:
3. Departure Of Concern
4. Eager To Fail
Approx. 11 minutes
| Sloth / Noothgrush Split (7") | 1997 | Doom Records |
The track is rather odd as it has a 3-minute intro and lasts only 2 minutes after that. The intro is basically an extremely slow and slightly stonerish bass line. It reminds me of the quieter moments in YOB's music. But the interesting stuff is to be found in the last two minutes. Here you find a pumping rhythm full of "scream your lungs out" attitude, blended in nicely with a dose of silliness. The sound is better described as humping music than headbanging music.
Noothgrush is the band that holds the other side. They are far more famous in the sludge underground and I would say nothing to argue against that position. Before they split up in the first years after the new millennium, they used to play just about the sickest and most tortured sludge that has ever been made.
This time, the pain and torment have been mixed with quite an unhealthy dose of bad temper. The track is as filthy and painful as setting a needle of heroine in the eye. And the extremely slow pace of the track pounds in every moment of this gruesome sight. If you like the torture coming from Grief then don't miss out on this one.
With all the attitude and torment that follows this release, my next statement is one that defies sanity. Ten minutes isn't enough. I play it again, and again, and again....
First pressing:
Second Pressing
Sloth:
1. Anaconda
Noothgrush:
2. (untitled)
Approx. 10 minutes
| Cattlepress / Sloth Split (7") | 1997 | None |
Cattlepress's side contains a track which is not typical for their style. They usually produce a mixture of sludge and noisecore in the vein of Cult Of Luna. This time they remind me of Funereal Luxuria, which is a funeral doom band. Now, this song is definitely core, but it still has the same gramophone-like sound. You could also compare it to playing Pelican's music with no bass and sharp edges on all the high pitched sounds.
On the cover it says that this track is the first track in a series called "Directions in improvisation by CATTLE PRESS". So I guess the interesting things about the track is due to the fact that it's improvised. However, since I cannot find any clues to whether any of the other three parts were ever released, and hence haven't heard them, I can't really tell for sure. I guess all I know is that my ears certainly don't object to the track.
Sloth has four songs on their side, the first two of them are sown into each other, forming one track. Neither is there any silence between the tracks so that they seem to float over into each other, making it hard to tell where one ends and another begins. Anyways, unlike Cattlepress they play a style which is very familiar to them. Slightly weirded out sludgecore with many doom elements and silly lyrics.
Their second track, 'Kirk's Lament', contains a new view on Cliff Burton's death. (Metallica's former bassist who died in 1986 in a bus crash, while on tour in Sweden). Amongst other things the song hints towards Kirk Hammet (the guitarist) being in love with Cliff. I'm sure most of Metallica's diehard fans have noticed Kirk's feminine sides, but I'm also sure that they won't see the humor in this track.
The split ends with a love song apparently sung (very sourly) over telephone. I guess you'd need to be a somewhat special person to enjoy this split. But everyone who has enjoyed Sloth's humor earlier, will definitely like this too. And since they're still readily available for a low price, you should consider grabbing a copy.
Cattlepress:
1. So That Threads Remain Of What Will Be First Movement:Deeper Than The Sea Of Ruin
Sloth:
2. Another Sh*t Day/Thirsty For Drunkeness
3. Kirk's Lament
4. A Serenade
Approx. 11 minutes
| Corrupted(+Solmania) / Sloth Split (7") | 2000 | None |
Corrupted find themselves working together with a rather unknown japanese noise band called Solmania. In addition to being just about the best track ever put out by Corrupted, it gets no less impressive when you find out that the track is actually recorded live. This is because the quality of the sound is really high (allthough that might be a contradiction to a noise band).
The intensity of 'Inactivo' (translated: "Inactive") is is far greater than on any of Corrupted's earlier songs. In fact the intensity of the noise almost makes the track leave the doom metal realm. The slightly insane aura just makes the experience all the sweeter. Truly a treat for extreme music fans.
Sloth re-released their track on their only full length, 'Division 1 State Champs', which came out the year after the release of this split. But that's not a negative thing. This split is so rare anyways and the track so good that everyone should hear it. It's got the low tuned and menacing sound which I love about Sloth. Not to mention their usual straightforward humor. As for the lyrical content, don't you think the trackname speaks for itself?
Fans of both bands should be looking for this one. Of course it won't be easy to find, but it is without doubt worth it.
Corrupted & Solmania:
1. Inactivo (live with Solmania)
Sloth:
2. Most Of The Bands I Like Either Broke Up Or Now Suck
Approx. 8 minutes
| Division 1 State Champs (12") | 2001 | Painiac |
This is the only full length released by Sloth from their beginning in 1991, to March 2005, fourteen years later and the moment in time that I'm writing this review. During this 12" these guys pretty much sum up every genre that they have been through during their career. Plenty of weirdness, hardcore, noisecore, sludgecore, stoner rock and of course doom metal. While we're speaking of doom metal I should probably point out that this CD only has around 10-11 tracks of doom while the rest are mixtures of the other genres.
As part of the sum up, Jeff Shirilla from Abdullah appears on 'Taint My Soul', like he has done on many of Sloth's other releases. But that's not all. Jeff also does the drums on 'Confused', and additional helpers Pat and Walters do the same job on a lot of the other songs. Even the tendency towards Polish lyrics which they had in the beginning is present in the track 'Mam Wszystkiego Dosc' (translation: "All Moms Are Final").
The point of this whole full length is to create parodies on different musical genres from pop to rock and metal. They rarely play the genres they are parodying, but instead make their point through sarcastic and ironic lyrics put forth in the most blunt way possible. Some genres are easy to recognize. 'The Story Of My Boobs' seems to be minted on the pop madonnas who play lousy music, but gain popularity through shaking their nice tits. 'Stoner Rock Is Dumb' and 'About Black Metal...' both clearly state which genre they parody. The doom metal parody seems to be the track 'Facts Of Life', which has "oh woe is little pityful me... *cough*bullshit!*cough*" lyrics. Others are harder to get the point of.
Enjoying this CD is impossible if you like any of these genres and have no sense of irony or humor. This vinyl is basically one big laugh based on the stupidities from the world of music. A lot of people don't catch on with the weirdness in the music either. In terms of strangeness this is indeed an extreme release. Personally I really enjoyed it and I know others will too, but the fanbase won't be a huge one.
1. Paralyse
2. Most Of The Bands I Like Either Broke Up Or Now Suck...
3. The Story Of My Boobs
4. The Boy Scout Motto
5. Sassy Pants
6. Arm's Enough
7. Flea Market
8. Drugs
9. Confused
10. Stoner Rock Is Dumb
11. Facts Of Life
12. Hey Everybody, This Is Not Rock 'N Roll
13. Rape Murder Rape
14. Dick Goddard's Wintery Forest
15. Crime Is Not Interresting
16. Ball Bra
17. Taint My Soul
18. Mam Wszystkiego Dosc
19. About Black Metal...
Approx. 45 minutes
| 4 Way Split 12 Inch LP (LP) | 2002 | Painiac |
With that being said, Sloth was supposed to start off the split with just that theme: Suicide. I'm saying 'supposed to' because while the tracklist lists this track first, it's actually the second one on the LP. It's hard to know exactly what's going on in the track with the loud keyboard and unrecognizable hissing vokills. For some reason the band appears on three different places on the split with three different sludge tracks. They're the least doomy ones on the split, but their unflattering view of 'Benefit Shows' is clearly one of the funniest in the genre. To summarize, these tracks are quite straightforward sludgecore with a strong focus on doomy elements, strange keyboards and a big, fat middle finger waving around.
The one's who's really the first band out is Thee Plague Of Gentlemen, even though they were supposed to be second. Their incredibly heavy, slow, and soul depraved doom/sludge cover of Winter's 'Eternal Frost', borders on being funeral doom in both pace and nihilism. The music shares a lot of common ground with bands like Corrupted, though they focus a little less on the filth and a little more on bass. A big belgian frown.
Then there is Wuzor, a band which plays doom/sludge with strong old-school tendencies. Bands like Grief and Eyehategod both come to mind. Fuzzy guitars, punky vokills and a very straight out anger. It's the band with the least airtime on the split, but makes up for it with a classic example of a good doom/sludge track.
Finally comes the longest of the tracks, an 16 minute long lump of doom by D O M, a band with one of the most intriguing logos. It looks like a mountain on one side and two pines on the other side. They both bend inwards to shape an 'O' surrounding a celestial object which is either the sun or the moon. Not much has been released over the years by this finnish project, thus this track is a rariety of it's own. 'Hypnoz' lies somewhere between Sunn O))), Bunkur and Corrupted; monotonous bass riffage, guitar whine and drums plod along with some occational faint vokills being screamed in the background. It's hard to figure out what's being yelled, but the music sure sounds like an existensialist crisis gone into apathy.
This is perhaps one of the best underground doom/sludge splits. It grants you a lot of heaviness for your money as well as a taste of many different sides of the genre. There is only 400 copies out there and you'll probably only find used copies. Still, it's worth looking for and there is a decent chance that you'll find it cheap.
Thee Plague of Gentlemen:
1. Eternal Frost (Originally Done By-Winter-1989)
Sloth:
2. Success at Suicide
Wuzor:
3. Beneath An Angry Sky / Fall into The Sky
Sloth:
4. Benefit Shows
D O M:
5. Hypnos
Sloth:
6. Pez
Approx. 52 minutes
| Sloth / Upsidedown Cross Split (7") | 2002 | None |
Saying that Sloth is only playing aggressive hardcore on this split is kind of wrong though. Their first track, 'At The Wake', is actually a very relaxing and gloomy electonica track. The second track is a badass hardcore track which seems to be a parody on the bands that play so-called "war metal". The third track is a sludgecore track with zero doom in it. Instead it stays almost melodyless and neutral in a way. Being named 'Cunt Lust' it's no wonder that it's about sex, but not exactly in a positive way.
Upsidedown Cross is a rather original doom band. The sludgy riffs are watered out 50/50 with a mixture of psychedelic rock, early punk rock and traditional metal. A better way to describe their sound might be to say that if Sex Pistols ever played doom metal, then it would definitely have sounded like this. Actually the vocals of Upsidedown Cross are stunningly similar to those of Johnny Rotten from the aforementioned punk band.
Sloth's half of the split is interesting only for those who enjoy bastard hardcore acts, but Upsidedown Cross' side would definitely interest a lot of doom fans. Although it is hard to find normal doom bands to compare them with, it'll probably appeal the most to sludge/doom and extreme traditional doom fans.
Sloth:
1. At The Wake
2. Total War Massacre
3. Cunt Lust
Upsidedown Cross:
4. Vampire In The Mirror
Approx. 10 minutes
| Sloth / dot[.]+Timisoara Split (7") | 2004 | Shifty |
Sloth did a particularly good job on this split. The sludgy noisecore/doom track that they present us with is definitely one of their best works to date. The first minute and a half pretty much lacks any form of doom, but after that the music becomes droning, fuzzy and not to mention, doomy. The track is rather chaotic with varying types of vocals which all seem to stay on the sick side of things. You could probably say it’s a bit on the experimental or avant-garde side because of the constantly changing style, but in the end it all comes together really well.
The collaborative track is between dot[.], a name sure to be familiar with sludge doomsters, and Timisoara, a harsh noise project from Japan. As can be expected the music is a mixture of heavy, pounding sludge doom riffage and creepy noise which intensifies as the track progresses. I think I hear some vocals as well, but it's so drenched in noise that it's hard to tell.
All three bands end up doing an excellent job on this 7". The foul stench that radiates from it is sure to affect you in some way. As the norm has it for obscure splits like this, only a limited number of copies have been produced. More specifically, only 200. Those who have a copy, hold on to it, those who don't, begin to look for it and do so fast.
Sloth:
1. Sweet Bottom
<;b>dot[.] & Timisoara:
2. Detonator Of Torture
Approx. 12 minutes
| 10th Anniversary 7"ep (7") | 2004 | Painiac |
The music is largely a collection of noise and occasionally some noisecore. It's very similar to many of their other works in the genre, like 'Graphic Training Aid' or their side of the 'CSMD/Sloth Split'. However, this 7" is far more monotonous than the other noisy ones. Even the track called 'Death Metal (not a Possessed-cover)' is a simple noisecore track. I assume the name comes from the lyrics which are basically repeating "Death metal" twice before the 45 second long track ends.
The cover of this anniversary celebration is hilarious, for those who like the humor. However, the remaining music is far from the best work by them. There are only 100 copies of this ep and none of them should be considered to be anything but a collectors item.
I. Sausage Yard
II. Earth Pukes up the Dead
III. Death Kamp(f) Guard
IV. Death Metal (not a Possessed-cover)
Approx. 10 minutes
| CSMD / Sloth Split (7") | 2004 | NO! Fucking Labels/Shifty |
Noiseape and Judge are the two dutchmen who make up CSMD (which stands for "Crowd Surfers Must Die"). They play chaotic noise with very little resemblance to anything within sanity's limits. They themselves use the term "ape tunes". Whatever the music originally contained of structure has been mangled, distorted, rearranged and abused into a loud pulp of intense and aggressive mumbo jumbo. As a perfect example of this, their first track is actually three tracks that seem to have been put into a blender, mixed on full force and poured onto the record. Another noteworthy trait is that half of the vocal duties is insane laughing. Very weird stuff for a very select group of people.
As usual, Sloth tilt slightly towards the band they made the split with. It's sludgy noise with the usual growled vocals and nutty lyrics. It consists of just vocals, very simple bass and fitting drums. Also as usual the music is recorded on a 4-track at one of their homes. Which means that, as usual, the recording quality is far from high. Then again, no one buys Sloth releases because they want high quality. It's usually the opposite - they like it this way. Heightening the quality will just serve to ruin their... eh... "charm".
This was never one of the more popular Sloth releases. CSMD make nothing that will make you want to listen to it often and Sloth are just not at their height. It's a collectors item. Nothing more.
CSMD:
1. Surf & Destroy (Astral rock destruction #2)
Search for the holy grail of rock
Join the army and get assfucked
2. David Bowel & Cindy Lepper
3. Metal runs through the blood
4. Er zit een monster onder je bed (smartlap cover of Enter Sandman/Metallica)
5. Lets dance (live in Amsterdam)
Sloth:
6. The Worst Thing Quarthon Could Have Done Was Live After Recording "Blood, Fire, Death".
7. March Of The Squirrel Army
8. Marv Albert's Gynecologist Is His Toupe
9. My Armpits Smell Like Hamburger Helper
10. I Just Listened To Buzzov*en's New CD. I Like It Quite A Bit But It's Not Good Like "Sore".
11. Olga
Approx. 15 minutes