Sheavy Aaannnnddd the winner of most unexpected 2024 album release goes to Toadliquor. 31 years after they dropped one of the most vile, angry, and unique Sludge/Doom metal albums, the legends return with their sophomore release Back In The Hole. So what has changed in the world of Toadliquor’s sound? Not all that much. Vocalist Rex doesn’t quite hit the high, almost ear piercing, throat ripping shriek of old. It’s more of a raspy yell or scream, not quite as powerful, but still communicates Toadliquor’s angst and nihilism. The songs are also (relatively speaking) tighter, and more concise. Less prone to droning off and dropping into feedback, but don’t worry, Toadliquor have lost none of their angry, brutal, misanthropic, crushing heaviness. Every song is precipitous, monolithic Doom leaning Sludge Metal.

However, there is something new in the Toadliquor arsenal, giving this album an experimental bent at times. This being a scattering of various electronic, psychedelic, or almost Post Metal interludes or inflections across most songs. On Recained, Toadliquor delve into a trippy, psychedelic midsection, filled with synth drones and electric pulses, ponderous reverbed drumming, squealing and muted saxophone, and some drowned out vocals. The namesake song and album closer, Back In The Hole, opens with some somber, drifting and depressive Post Rock guitar and synth, before slowly transitioning into the Sludge/Doom pounding and riffing, while the almost melodic guitar parts soar above.

This is an excellent return to the spotlight for Toadliquor.

siLLy puPPy TOADLIQUOR was one of those bands that staunchly bucked trends and set out to do things its own way and although never set the world on fire in terms of commercial success, still managed to attract a significant cult following which continues to grow as time passes on. Originally formed in 1989 in Arroyo Grande, CA (near the city of San Luis Obispo), this sludge / doom / drone metal outfit relocated several years later to the noise making region of Olympia, Washington just in time for the Seattle grunge scene to take off. The band was active for only ten years from 1989-99 but in its wake only left a few splits and the only album FEEL MY HATE - THE POWER IS THE WEIGHT - R.I.P. CAIN, which often omits the R.I.P. part in some databases.

Influenced equally by dirge-driven Black Sabbath styled riffs, TOADLIQUOR eschewed any attempts to craft memorable melodic compositions and instead focused on doom metal processions that employed ample doses of sludge guitar attacks and chaotic guitar feedback, string scratching and atonal yet rhythmic no wave styled guitar abuse. The lollygagging bass lines accompanied by comatose sleepwalking percussion allow the insane asylum escapee vocals of Rex to add a sense of shock and awe. The caustic nature of this cacophonous mix guarantees that this album remains proudly inaccessible to the mainstream existing somewhere between crust punk (in its irreverent style and no fucks left to give attitude), doom metal in languid delivery and sludge metal in angry, blood-curdling guitar tones and fits of rage.

FEEL MY HATE emerged in 1993 just as CDs were making their debut as the new dominant format for recordings but TOADLIQUOR refused to release this album on CD and even to this date has only been released on vinyl LPs however this album as well as other material from splits and other sources was released together on CD as the compilation “The Hortator’s Lament” from 2003 released on t he Los Angeles based Southern Lord Recordings which included some unreleased bonus tracks. FEEL MY HATE often feels like a drone metal album with lingering distortion sustain in the backdrop as the thundering bass and drums plod along while Rex screams up a storm. His vocal style is more of frenetic shouts rather than singing. The music is all about a repetitive groove while the chaotic din swarms around it like a hive of angry hornets. In this way the music is more like no wave than traditional doom metal or sludge metal.

This album is as dark and forbidding as the black and white album cover suggest. The anger and despair are just oozing out of every caustic tone and timbre on FEEL MY HATE and it’s easy to hear why this has become such the underground classic that it has for it embodies all those middle fingers to commercialism traits that make excellent iconoclastic musical experiences. It simultaneously gives the middle finger to punk rock, doom metal and other forms of faster extreme metal that were coming of age in 1993 while finding its own way of running as far away from mainstream as possible. Unmarred by any botched sophomore attempts, TOADLIQUOR created one sole musical statement that has had to stand on its own and for what the band was going for, this is the gritty filthy rawness of underground musical dreams. Caustic and dripping with attitude, FEEL MY HATE - THE POWER IS THE WEIGHT only continues to grow in stature as new fans discover it in the undercurrents of the deepest recesses of the world of extreme metal.