J-Man
Hailing from Chicago, sludge/post metal band Bloodiest has been gaining a fair amount of recognition across the webs for their 2011 debut effort. Descent is an album of heavy doom riffs, piano overtones, and plenty of layers of sludge to dig into. The result can be monotonous at times, but it's a generally powerful journey with plenty of quality that makes it worth a look for most sludge metal fans. More variation will do Bloodiest justice in the future, but this is certainly a solid beginning for this promising act.
The band can be considered a "supergroup" of sorts, as it contains members from Yakuza, 90 Day Men, Follows, Atombombpocketknife, and Sweep the Leg Johnny. As such, one of the biggest assets to Bloodiest's music is the professional musicianship across the board. These guys don't come across as "virtuosos", but I don't exactly think that was the intent here either. Descent is a sludge/post metal album with plenty of influence from Neurosis and also the noise rock scene. Variation in terms of instrumentation is scarce, but, again, I think that was the intent - there's a noticeably raw feeling through the album's entire duration. That leads me straight into discussing the excellent production. This has a raw feeling that just screams "90's" on so many levels; that's a good thing for me.
Descent hasn't earned as many accolades from me as it has from other reviewers, but it's a unique and often enjoyable album - there's no denying that. Fans of sludge and post metal should love this one; spare the general lack of variation and occasionally monotonous atmosphere. Bloodiest is a talented group, and their solid debut is worth no less than 3 stars. If the band can work out some of the kinks, I'll be really excited what they have to offer next.