You’ve heard Lothorian’s new EP Welldweller before. If you’ve ever listened to Eyehategod, Crowbar, Iron Monkey, or pretty much any sludge band that doesn’t come from the Neurosis/ISIS school, then everything on Welldweller will sound very familiar to you. The massive stoner riffs, the monstrous guitar tone, the Sleep/Electric Wizard-inspired singing juxtaposed with hardcore howling – all are hallmarks of the genre.
And really, why would you ask for anything else?
Welldweller sticks to a formula that works. The world could always use more gigantic, crushing hardcore punk-tinged doom guitars, and Lothorian’s contributions are certainly worthy. The opening notes of the instrumental ‘Witchunt’ tell you pretty much all you need to know about this EP: it’s heavy as hell and if you have a problem with it, you’re wrong.
Imagine what it would be like to Dwell in a Well – dark, dirty, dank, disgusting, other words that begin with the letter D, etc. – and then imagine what kind of person it would take to actually want to Dwell in that dark, dirty, dank, disgusting, described-by-D-words Well. And then imagine that person plugging in a guitar (we’ll ignore the risk of electrocution caused by using a guitar amp in a water-filled well) and making music.
I’d imagine that Mr. Welldweller would make music that, well, sounds like Welldweller. Dirty, crushing sludge riffs that tower over you and punch you in the chest as they reach their sludgy little tendrils into your brain and force you to headbang, not against your will, but rather in hypnotic acceptance. You do not question the Riff, you only submit to its iron fist and do its bidding with zealous devotion. And Welldweller is full of riffs, from the first seconds of ‘Witchunt’ to the close of ‘Shallow Ground.’
Lothorian prove that there is nothing wrong with sticking to the familiar. Weldweller is simply the tried-and-true nature of massive, crushing sludge metal, and nothing more. There is no need to deviate from the form when you can execute it so well.
