Taunton, a town snuggled in the county of Somerset, UK ,once famous for it's cider production, is also the home of prog/sludge groovsters Sail (formally Husk) a band who cite among their influences the writers HP Lovecraft and Terry Pratchett (as well as of course cider). The band, who as Husk previously released one album "Seven Pyramids" and a split "Upon His Mountain", (with fellow West Country sludgsters Striga ) have just released their first album, "Slumbersong", under their new name
Sail employ, into their sound, elements of textured post-rock and complex progressive metal and combine those elements with thick swathes of swampy sludge drenched guitar riffery and raw throaty vocals, then confuse matters further by weaving in to those heady mixes touches of 70's rock and shoegaze/alt-rock vocal melodies. Songs like "Praise and Hatred", "Righteous" and "Old Tom" are hammered out on waves of crunching riffage, pushed hard by a thunderous rhythm section, over which raw bellowed vocals play "catch me" with dark swirling guitar solo's, the resulting whirlwind of groove coming across like Baroness meeting Mastodon at a Boss Keloid gig. Now this alone would be enough to sell "Slumbersong" to most metalheads/stoners but Sail have more up their sleeves than just a roar and a riff, these guys can mix it up too. On "Ghosts" the band create post-rock structured soundscapes enhanced by a combination of reverb drenched and swirling bluesy guitar colourings coated in shoegaze-ish vocal tones, while on "House" the band almost get a little psychedelic and at times Celtic, these two songs combined with the beautiful title track shining a whole new light on what Sail are all about both musically and dynamically.
Sail, Tom Coles (drums), Kynan Scott (bass), Charlie Dowzell (guitars/vocals) and Tim Kazer (guitars/vocals) have with "Slumbersong" created somewhat of a rod for their own backs in the that after hearing an album so perfectly balanced in songwriting, arrangement and execution its hard to see how they could ever better it ...but let's hope they try.
Check it out .....
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