FMA Reviews: Lord Dying: Summon the Faithless (2013)

Originally reviewed here.

Over the last few years, the face of sludge metal has shifted. The genre was mostly created in the swamps of Louisiana with groups like Crowbar, Acid Bath, and Eyehategod. An unholy union of hardcore and doom metal, the music was extreme in its way. However it has become bastardized and changed over the years as groups like Mastodon and Baroness have taken it out of the boggy depths and made it almost radio-friendly. Oh the horrors.

Enter Lord Dying.

Lord Dying hails from the Pacific Northwest, but their sound is rooted in the low rumbling riffs of the New Orleans sludge scene with some High on Fire thrown in for good measure. Despite a relatively short history, Lord Dying comes across as veterans that have been throwing out stampeding riffs for years. Yet, this is a debut album by four members who do not appear to have created anything else with any other bands. Let me tell you, that is positively shocking. Because this album really sounds incredible.

From the opening riff building into a steamroller to the closing strains, this is one of the best sludge metal albums I have heard in a very long time. I have been a fan of the genre since I discovered it in the early 1990's, but it had been on the decline for several years. Lord Dying bring it back in a big way.