One look at the cover for this album and I knew I had no interest in it. I really should start taking my mom’s advice "Don’t say you hate something without trying it." A year after I received it I finally decided to blow the dust off the disc and give it a spin. Much to my surprise I found myself liking it a lot more than I ever expected to.

The Abominable Iron Sloth consists of basically the entire Will Haven line-up (guitarists Cayle Hunter and Jeff Irwin, bassist Mike Martin and drummer Mitch Wheeler) with Oddman guitarist/vocalist Justin Godfrey. The music this quintet create is crushing rocking sludge.

The material has a strong mid-90s thrash-hardcore hybrid sound popularized by Sepultura and Machine Head, it’s like listening to a slowed down version of Chaos AD with hatefilled screams instead of Max’s trademark barking. Other bands that come to mind when listening to this punishing effort include Converge and Eyehategod.

While none of the tracks are drastically different there’s enough variation to the material to make the album fresh enough to be able to sit through the release for the full 27 minutes without having the urge to start skipping. If you’re looking for something heavy, sludgy and punishing look no further than The Abominable Iron Sloth. Good stuff!

Written By: Teufel