Good news everyone! South coast noise rock team Lower Slaughter return with a cracking new album. It was in the long ago times (before Covid) we last heard from them, so there was no guarantee. In that time they’ve made some adjustments in line-up and sound but are still essentially the providers of noisy riffs and punk rock lurch you recall. Most notably, following the departure of vocalist Sinead Young, they’ve adopted the previously successful move of promoting a guy called Barney who’s already in the band to front person, drafting in old friend James Gardiner to take his spot on bass.
Deep Living is agreeably varied, it sounds like they’ve kicked around the idea of what they do a little bit, it’s looser than before. Beginning with drone and drum patter, ‘Year of The Ox’ is a thing of rolling menace, swallowing Barney’s words as he softly intones “my eyes…my eyes” until he eventually starts screaming and the band begins to really roar. To a degree they alternate between the swifter more melodic end of their sound and their love of thick sludge, sometimes in the same song. ‘Take A Seat’ winds up and runs off on a tight riff, dropping down to doom heavy on the chorus.
‘Dear Phantom’ finds them in full-fat blown out riff mood while shorter tunes like the aptly named ‘Goes Fast’ and ‘The Bridge’, with it’s thumping drums and shouted gang chorus, are more rattling punk. There’s also room for a weird drum ‘n’ glitch interlude, ‘We Bring Power’, and a gentle guitar and vocal number in ‘The Shape Of The Fire’. These are great and keep things interesting but I think they’re at their best combining their older sound with a more widescreen feel like on the scuffed slacker melodies of ‘The Lights Were Not Familiar’ or the slow swing and powerful, drawn out, instrumental section of ‘Memories Of Road’.
From their comeback single, ‘Motions’ is a smartly condensed blast of their more direct impulses and sure to be an absolute killer live but I think ‘Hospital Chips’ is my favourite. It’s got the best title, obviously, but it gives you a full tilt rager with completely ferocious guitars for a couple of minutes and then a lengthy coda that works perfectly. The closing title track epic, like the weird scarecrow thing on the cover, remains something of a mystery to me but that’s ok, there’s a lot to take in here and who doesn’t like a little mystery? Deep Living is a really strong new chapter from a band of DIY survivors.
