Sludge-Doom bands often go to extreme lengths to try to get more variety and flavor and stand out among the crowd, but once in a while you come across a band that totally takes a different route, like the American one-man band THUNDERCHIEF here with their, or should I say his, debut full length album "The Tone Of Sorrow" released this April 17^th on VHS Records.

The first song "Night Terrors" here is more of a Drone sound filled chaos than anything Doom or Sludge and quite frankly is not interesting and gives a bad taste first up and reminded me of another similar record released recently by AUTOKRATOR, while the next one "Not Like It or Love It" has slight Doom and Sludge riffs, but the noisy Drone sound remains, leading to another disappointing song, and not to mention the whole song is unidirectional and very monotonous, and frankly that would have been a positive thing for a Doom band, but not here since nothing seems to work - not even the 20 word screaming vocals.

"Joke's on Me" turns out to be a much better song even though it elongates beyond 9 minutes. The typical atmospheric Death Doom vocals is used here and it kind of works, but with very generic lyrics, sadly the effect soon fades away, and the fact that none of the instruments really give you anything to ponder over makes this a tough ask for the listener. The album get longer and weirder with each song as the 11 min clocking "Line In the Snow" isn't too different from what has already been heard - the thick slab of slow headbanging Drone riff, that pretty much fills the whole album. It's worth mentioning that the elongated guttural vocals do work here, but sadly doesn't do enough to save this album from drowning. The album ends with another long 8 min song in "Hot Burrito #13" which again fails to bring anything new to the table.

"The Tone Of Sorrow" may appeal to seasoned Drone music fans, but surprisingly it isn't even marketed as a Drone band but rather as Sludge Doom band. The music here comes across as generic, perhaps even for regular fans of the aforementioned genres and offers nothing new, with appealing moments occurring only in smatterings. There is nothing wrong in trying something new, and the new THUNDERCHIEF offering does not seem to make such an endeavour. If that is not in Rik's creative interests, then power to him; sticking to your guns is worth a nod towards integrity. However, even in doing so, this particular piece of work, at least for me, comes across as rather generic and monotonous in its approach and at times when you think a breath of fresh air is coming 'round the corner, it simply doesn't appeal creatively. It could be a tough 40 minutes for the listener here.