siLLy puPPy Featuring four distinct underground bands in the world of doom metal, drone metal and sludge metal, 4 WAY SPLIT 12 INCH LP is a vinyl only release that features the Belgian sludge drone metal band THEE PLAGUE OF GENTLEMEN, the American sludge metal / experimental noise rock band SLOTH, the American sludge metal / punk band WUZOR and the Finnish sludge doom metal band D O M. Oh and limited to 400 hand-numbered copies.

SLOTH clearly is the winner of this competition with three tracks but the tracks are on the shorter side whereas the other bands have longer ones. THEE PLAGUE OF GENTLEMEN, WUZOR and D O M all have one track each but each passes the 9-minute mark on this 52-minute split. This album was released on the Painiac label in 2002.

THEE PLAGUE OF GENTLEMEN are first up with “Eternal Frost” which is a monotonous doom metal track with an incessant drone effect. The 13-minute track basically is a slow stomp with irregular beats and highly distorted guitars that offer more distortion than actual playing but it’s an effective monstrous beast complete with growly shouted vocals.

Next up SLOTH with a filthy lo-fi approach that mixes noise rock with sludge metal with the track “Pez”. The raspy vocals are subdued in the murky mix and sound like a black metal vocalist is trying to bleed through the noise. Musically this is fairly simple with a repetitive riffing style but some creepy keyboards take this into a more horrific mood. This one is short but effectively creepy as fuck.

Closing out the A side of the vinyl is the sludge punk band WUZOR from the San Francisco Bay Area cranking out a live track of noisy punk fueled sludge metal with doom metal riffs with the track “Beneath an Angry Sky / Fall Into the Sky.” This is a sludgy slow paced crawling track with thick guitar distortion and angrily screamed punk style vocals shouting from beneath the din. The drumming and playing style is more in the vein of sludge metal but the molasses slow tempo is doomy.

And another from SLOTH titled “You Band Plays Benefit Shows.” Quite different than the other SLOTH track. This one is slow and doomy however the vocals are shouted like a post-punk Fugazi and there’s some weird sound that sounds like the record is skipping. Whether this is intentional or a glitch i’m not sure but it’s kinda irritating. Also this isn’t as noisy. The guitars have a cleaner and clearer tone. This one is kind of boring.

The only track from the Finnish band D O M titled “Hypnos” is perfectly titled and is a sprawling drone metal dirge that mixes extremely slow doom metal with droning and creepy guitar echoes. The vocals are shouted in a sludge metal way. This is probably the most detached track on the split. It sort of drifts like a Krautrock jam only with heavy distorted guitars and period vocals shouting from a distance. The groove is rather repetitive but effective. Not sure it warrants a 16-minute playing time but nice passive lo-fi sludginess. There are some cool psychedelic effects in the latter half. Even some bluesy Black Sabbath styled guitar soloing.

And for the grand finale, another track from SLOTH! “Success at Suicide” is the noisiest track on the SPLIT and a much more interesting extreme track than the middle SLOTH one. This is very chaotic sounding with out of tune guitar riffs and subdued screaming vocals breaking through the murky din. I really love the guitar tone on this one as its raw and filthy as fuck. Sludgy tones and timbres combined with doom metal drudgery in the tempo and a anarchic punk attitude make this one stand out above the rest to my ears. Also features some atonal keyboard runs that provide an avant-prog sort of counterpunch.

Never heard any of these bands before i checked out this SPLIT but they all sound worthy of exploring further. This is an evil as fuck sounding murky mess of an album though. This is lo-fi and as out of focus as the album cover artwork but it’s all so raw and grungy sounding as well which is a cool mix of elements when i’m craving some true underground band action lurking in the darkest recesses of the music industry. A cool SPLIT for sure but only for a once in a while experience.