71TONMAN comes from Poland, a country that has proved to be the birthplace to many top-notch metal acts from all genres. I must admit that the first thing that caught my eye even before listening to the tunes was the fact that they are under the wing of Transcending Obscurity, a label I personally look up to when it comes to the quality of their bands and merch (this release comes in a coffin case with lots of cool stuff). So, I knew this had to be up those standards, and I was right.

The looks are that of a Death Metal band when it comes to the album cover and artwork, which are pretty sick and cool, even the logo, so don't expect to travel into atmospheric musical landscapes that cheer your soul. This music reeks of death and the sound of their first track "War is Peace" proves it. Very fuzzy yet fat, low and slow as their self-description states. I couldn't honestly feel much of the Sludge in it, probably a bit on the drum side, but rather embarked into an ultra-slow Death Metal kind of feeling. Sounds like B tuning to me and at times I couldn't make up the riffs clearly, they were so thick, which is not bad at all but rather good and a natural part of it when you deal with such a massive wall of sound. The bass is deep and accurate. The vocals were deep growls most of the time which fit the music perfectly, there are vocal trade-offs and dual vocals that provide a filthier vibe to it. This song left me with the feeling that it was going to speed up at some point, bass drums doubled up at times to give the feeling of a faster pace, yet everything else just kept on going slowly, like an army of giant size alien caterpillars destroying everything in its path. The song has a pretty eerie ending that leaves you with an image of devastation and decay in your head. It was a pleasing first impression of the band.

I could feel the Sludge from the start on "Peace is Slavery", even on the vocal side, with is a bit more screamed, rather than growled at start, in order to fit the aggression of the riffs and double bass. This vocal style will prevail during the entire song, giving it a pinch more presence to the screams than to the growls, it felt freaking evil. Type of sludgy song that makes you think some pissed-off MF is about to beat the crap out of someone right in front of you. Definitely the heaviest track on this release, as "Ignorance is Strength" is rather an ambient piece (Dark Ambient perhaps) that creates an image of desolation for me, some kind of post-apocalyptic trip where life has been practically wiped-off the face of the planet due to nuclear chaos. There are probably some neural waves in the mix as well in order to transport your brain deeper and further into the sound picture. Nice way to close this chapter... "If you want the truth, the future, imagine a boot, standing on a human face, forever..."

Overall, I like the fact that this shit is evil. There are no nice feelings behind this music, everything leads to doom and chaos. The sound is clear and crisp, everything feels right into place. A little over 20 minutes long this is a pleasant listen you must check out.