It was 28th April 2013 at the Camden Underworld, London. I’m guessing most people reading this review would have visited this venue once or twice in their lifetime. It was the final day of DesertFest and the most colossal line up of doom bands ever to have been put together... had been put together. We’re talking Bongripper, Cough, Belzebong, Witch Mountain, Conan etc. It was kind of like a skull splitting doom version of the “Avengers Assemble” movie but with more carnage. Anyway, with such a ridiculous line-up you might have thought it was tricky to stand out that day but Holland’s Toner Low managed to just that. The three piece took the stage and threw some of the nastiest riffs ever to be exposed to anyone this side of the universe at befuddled crowd whilst green THC projections darted around arena. It was a huge moment where most of us spent our time wondering if we were going to survive it and that’s exactly what Toner Low have managed to capture and bottle in their latest album entitled III. The band have been away five years, faced a few line-up changes but boy do they mean business time. III is by far the heaviest thing they have done so far; don’t you just love it when bands do that?
There are a mere four tracks ranging from seven to seventeen minutes entitled ‘Phase Six’, ‘Phase Seven’, ‘Phase Eight’ and ‘Phase Nine’ and they are all vicious as shit! ‘Phase Six’ kicks off in full flow with a fuzzy bass line dominating a stunning riff, don’t take this track lightly… placed in the wrong hands it could possibly kill someone or worse. The vocals are a psychotic grunt and it’s impossible to work out what he’s trying to explain to us but I fully agree with every word. In fact, I might even write to my local M.P. insisting whatever he's saying shall be passed as law! What’s particularly nice about this is that it’s not your typical doom album, there’s a ton of originality with hints of psychedelia with almost an industrial clanging over the top making this trip a unique experience.
'Phase Seven' is slower, nastier but contains that horrible (in a good way) feel of 'Phase Six' and you know there is not going to be much in the way of variety on this record which probably has a lot to do with the choice of song titles. The repetition is in a no way a bad thing, Toner Low are clearly challenging the listener to some kind of endurance test, most will fail but the winners will be rewarded with one of the most intense listening experiences of the year.
For the rest of the record we’re offered a little rest bite at the beginning of 'Phase Eight', it’s a more relaxed almost spacey affair before another psychotic riff virus bomb to the mind and just like any good doom band they throw in the odd surprise into this unstoppable machine. You know... those dynamic "Did they really just do that?" moments which propels this beast into another dimension and it feels like you are given a treat in a dark universe where treats don’t exist. Work that one out!
'Phase Nine' is 13 minutes of pure filth before the huge doom monster that’s creating all the chaos is tamed and scuppers back into its cave where it hides until the next time you play it. We’re then given some slow bass and piano to give us a manageable entrance back into reality.
So in conclusion, if a chaos filled voyage where you get to tame a huge doom monster sounds like your thing then get this record. It’s awesome!
