Crowhurst – II ( Broken Limb Recordings)

The title of this album is somewhat misleading, the lead man Jay Gambit has amazingly now in excess of 70 releases which to date have been mostly of a collaborative nature in experimental noise. This is the second album he has completed as part of a band. On offer here is an interesting mix of black metal and sludge with an industrial attack all with a thick and murky sound. The album starts of with the chaotic “Cold Sweat” which is not really all that representative of the rest of the album, it gives an somewhat of indicator of where this guy has come from sonically. “The End” starts of slow and creeping with a Tom G Warrior style drawl before it launches into a full black metal harsh wall of sound, there is a melodic element which takes it into WITTR territory. “No Saviors” turns the black metal element on its head and moves into a more industrial landscape bringing to mind bands like “Head of David” and early “Swans”. There is nothing lo-fi about this, it is full of bass and treacherous distortion with a variety of vocal and music styles, however that does not make the album sound disjointed,  a very fine balance  has been struck.