Eternal Idol - Blunt Force Trauma

Eternal Idol from Aberdeen in the UK came together to fulfill a long time dream of playing doom, Jay the guitarist came from the hardcore metal bands "Forever Tied" and then "Choose Your Fate" with bassist Steve being totally new to bass playing and being in a band. These two formed the nucleus of the Eternal Idol, the pair starting jamming in November 2008 learning and mastering the doom metal craft along the way. After a long search, Ash was found to take on drumming duties and they enlisted "Choose Your Fate" bassist Christy as the vocalist. Yet another line-up change with Matt taking over the drums and the band line-up was finally settled and they have gone from strength to strength ever since. Their first EP titled "Blunt Force Trauma" is now up for free download from their Myspace page, the link is posted below and is well worth your time downloading as it is a fine piece of dirty sludge metal. The EP starts off with a intro that has a dirty, stomping groove setting things up for the first real track, "Blunt Force Trauma". A great dirty groove is unleashed after a squeal of feedback and we are away on a crust-filled sludge metal journey. The crustiness comes mainly from the screaming, grimy, bellowing vocals of Christy but the guitar is not exactly clean either, its some gritty, swampy dirge which acts as a perfect vehicle for the musical assault they deliver. You would be a stretch of the imagination to call this original but it has a unrelenting groove about it that is hard to resist if you are a sludge metal fan. A few bands spring to mind when you listen to this EP and they are all American, Weedeater, Sourvein, Ol Scratch to name just a few. Eternal Idol keep their UK tendencies to a minimum and provide a sound that is rich is southern sludge, USA style.

"No Honor Amongst" is a bone crunching pounder with thick sounds coming from the guitar and bass, a lot of bottom end in this baby. Christy stretches his vocal chords from deep in the grave growls to terrifying screams and the song is interspersed with feed-backing guitar and tempo changes that go from heavy to heavier still. "Sleep When Dead" begins with the mandatory squealing guitar before a filthy doom riff crawls its way into the proceedings. Seething, plodding and with its fair share of malice, this is a immense track. The slightly off kilter guitar work adds a touch of evil to "Sleep When Dead" that echoes Saint Vitus and Eyehategod in small doses. "Respect Where Respect Is Due" is the final track and its a keeper. The epic of the EP, its a slogging sludge-fest with a mid-tempo opening section that is pure ear candy to a sludge metal fan like myself. The track soon takes a turn to sloth paced doom for the later half and i don't know if this was totally intentional or not but it disappears completely for a few minutes. False ending maybe but when the music reappears, it is a monolithic riff that is worth waiting for. My pick as my favorite part of the EP, this is a riffing section to die for but the total absence of any sound for a few minutes is a bit hard to sit through especially for me with my utter lack of patience. In conclusion, this EP promises great things for the future for this UK sludge/doom band as they dish up some killer riffage, monolithic vocals and a solid rhythm section. Its also produced well with all instruments being easy to hear, nothing is buried in the mix and thus provides a mighty ear-full of a sound. This should be high on everyone's "must download" list, check it out. 8.5/10

www.myspace.com/eternalidolmusic