Was Sludge Metal born from Doom, or Grunge? Or, reaching further back, Frank Zappa perhaps? No one knows for sure. But for me, the quintessential example of this genre was the great CORSSION OF CONFORMITY, who had an album called “Deliverance” in the early 90’s that should have been hailed as a masterpiece. Well, that is neither here nor there now. Let’s turn our attention to the band at hand. Hailing from Albany, New York, USA, comes Sludge Metal band CARNWENNAN. This is the band’s first full-length album, and it has four lengthy songs.

“I” is first. It has a slow, fuzzy start, and that first note that it struck with bass, drums, and guitars is more powerful than a meteor hitting the earth with catastrophic force. The vocals sound like tortured wails from a man who has endured more than his share of anguish and suffering, and with each new note, it sounds like another nail is driven into your coffin. The victim pulls one final breath to try to gain enough energy to escape, but it is in vain, because he hasn’t an ounce of strength left. “II” is much shorter, but it still has a fatal intensity, and the tortured vocal wails still take center stage.

“III” has more of a traditional sounding riff at first, although it is still devastatingly depressive. But as it moves forward, it is not gaining any speed or ground. Instead, it seems to focus on the darker side of existence, which is one where you never get ahead despite your best efforts. The lengthy “IV” closes the album; a 16-minute beast of an instrumental. A deep, dark, fuzzy riff reverberates beneath your feet, and you have the sense that something is coming that hasn’t walked the earth in eons. It stays hidden for a long while however, almost to the point to where you forget about it. It’s sort of an odd way to end an album, but it does create a good deal of tension.

Overall, this was an excellent album. The cover art portrays hues of intense orange and red, almost like fire, over a bed of darker colors underneath, almost like the deep ocean. The amorphous form hold the secret to the album, which is torture in a dungeon outside of your worst fears.