TOADLIQUOR — Feel My Hate - The Power Is the Weight (review)

TOADLIQUOR — Feel My Hate - The Power Is the Weight album cover

Album · 1993 · Sludge Metal

4/5 · 2020-10-12
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.

more than 2 years ago
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Sheavy wrote:

8 months ago

Lol, yes, I kinda love this avatar too. My initial listens to the new album it was fine, it was after coming back to it for more spins that I really got into it.

siLLy puPPy wrote:

8 months ago

Thanks. The new one came from left field. On my list to review but still haven't even heard it. Will get to it soon. Nice puke avatar :D

Sheavy wrote:

8 months ago

Excellent review, this album is probably my favorite sludge metal album, it’s got such a familiar yet unique sound.

‘Unmarred by any botched sophomore attempts’ well that didn’t age well hehe. Curious what you’d think of the new release