The Womb’s self-titled EP was a huge step forward from their 2006 demo, and they’ve taken another giant leap with their debut album. The 10-track, 45 minute opus includes a hand-drawn cover of a tortured face being pulled apart by power lines, and an inner sleeve photo of the band standing shirtless in front of a cabin that cracks me up every time I see it.
But enough about hairy chests, let’s talk about the music, shall we? Opening track Do You Know Your Life Has Been Rigged? combines progressively sludgy Isis riffs with harsh black metal vocals, until picking up speed around the 3 minute mark, then descending into another slow groove. Definitely the most complex tune I’ve heard from these guys, and one of the coolest, too.
Finding Light opens frantically, before quickly descending into another heavy groove. All of a sudden, we’re taken into black metal territory, fast paced riffs turning into a hardcore chug, and back again before a slow melodic passage begins, then gives way to a machine-gun thrash attack. This song’s all over the map, and yet the band manages to pull it all together with a bludgeoning heavy-yet-melodic chorus.
Large Plains Small Brains is fast from the get-go, keeping up a frantic hardcore punk beat with a handful of breakdowns within the first two minutes. I know that I’m not musically gifted enough to accurately describe all that’s going on with this album, but the impressive instrumentation never comes across as overzealous wankery. One With Nature builds up into a mid-paced heavy groove, with one of the catchiest chorus riffs you’ll hear on Doomlodge. Arrival kicks off with a wicked tribal drum beat, and a guitar chug that breaks down in more mid-paced heaviness, slowing down considerably for a brief moment around 2 minutes and 40 seconds in.
Hive shows The Womb taking on a traditional sludge metal approach, with a female spoken word intro kicking off a slow, heavy number that turns into galloping hardcore march with NOLA-fried breakdowns tastier than Popeye’s chicken on 2.79 Tuesdays. A minimalistic riff at the 3 minute mark is pure doom evil, leading us to a haunting guitar solo. Needless to say, it’s my favourite track on here, or any of their releases, for that matter. Your House Exploded provides somewhat of a reprisal a couple tracks later, starting off in doom metal territory before picking up the pace.
The Rest of “Side Two” (Ravaged Wrist Slapback—whatever that means—Heeds of Shame and Uphill Swim to Grief) continue the decent into gloomy hardcore/sludge territory, with time changes a plenty. You get the impression that The Womb could be a straight ahead sludge, doom, hardcore punk or even death/black metal band, but they’d much rather be all of the above, all at once. These guys have gotta be the most original, unique and underappreciated band in the Toronto metal scene, although some might give that title to their female-fronted side project, The Great Collapse. In any case, this record is a must-have for metal fans tired of generic kung-fu chopping deathcore bands, and those who like their grooves thick and heavy. We’ve still got a ways to go till December, but you can already put this one on my list of 2009’s top albums!