Citing heavy, sludgy, groove, psychedelia, noise rock influences, Bardus are pitched as amalgamating elements of Melvins, Eyehategod, Unsane, and Queens of the Stone Age to forge their own brand of guitar-led heaviosity.
You could be forgiven for expecting a mess of slow-paced, downtuned stoner grooves on the strength of the cover and track titles like ‘Monolith’, ‘Transcendece’, and ‘Haze’, and there’s plenty of low-down, slow-down, heads-down riffage, but Bardus bring a whole lot more besides. The vocals, for a start: proper, angry yelling pitched low in the mix harks back to the noise rock scene of the 90s. The overall effect might not be quite as bluntly brutal as Unsane, but it’s still pretty ugly.
‘Smoke Bath’ is an angry slab of mutant hardcore, dredging up the spirit of Fudge Tunnel’s nihilistic sludge thrash. Elsewhere, the aforementioned ‘Transcendence’ spins out on a more progressive / post-metal trajectory, and ‘Sly King’ crackles with shards of angular guitar.
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The tracks are concise, too, generally remaining under the four-minute mark. Such discipline adds considerably to the impact, the seven tracks slamming in hard and leaving the listener stunned, battered and bruised – although the slow fade to close the album seems like an odd decision.
Bardus Online
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