APE VERMIN
APE VERMIN “Andromedas Colossus”
By Dr. Abner Mality
I remember this sludgy North Carolina trio as being pretty good on their last album. “Andromedas Colossus” continues very much in the vein of their previous effort, but adds more of an ambitious sci-fi twist to the swampy goings on. One thing’s for sure, they keep things thick and fuzzy here...none of the “clean sludge” you get with MASTODON, BARONESS and the like. “Clean sludge”...that’s got to be the biggest oxymoron since “jumbo shrimp”.
For the sake of easy comparison, there’s a lot of HIGH ON FIRE and ELECTRIC WIZARD going on here. These guys lock into a groovy riff until it achieves a hypnotic effect, as on “Obliteration Imminent” and “Solaruss”. Sometimes they lock into it a big too long and things get a bit monotonous. But not very often. The riffs are just massive but heard nowhere better than “Motherlode”, which is just an awesome cosmic sludgefest. “Awakened” quickens the pace with some thrash-like leanings, which makes for a nice change. They also inject some spacy analog electronic to emphasize the sci fi story being told, which seems to be about the Earth rebelling against the hairless apes destroying it.
By the time APE VERMIN reach the last two epics “Unearthing the Artifact” and “Return To Andromeda”, they’ve surely found their sweet spot, mixing a little melody and progression naturally into the big loping riffs. The latter song even features mostly clean vocals and reminds me of the now forgotten band ZOROASTER in a way.
Definitely recommended to fans of tripped out sludge…