April 27, 2013 • self-released
It's all too easy to feel jaded and dismissive about yet-another-relatively-typical-atmospheric-sludge-album. I was at first. And sure, Amber doesn't really try anything new in the genre, but that doesn't mean they can't make a generic album that isn't good. And I was surprised to hear that they, in fact, do.
While you won't get much more than the standard soft-loud-soft-loud dynamics and heavy one-note riffs, there's enough going on in Lovesaken to make it work. The drumming is a bit more interesting than usual, using some more complex rhythms and fills than in your average dirges. The guitar sometimes follows suit as well with some neat layered arpeggiated delay sections. And of course you have your chugging breakdowns too, which are actually quite well-done. It's hard not to groove along to the end of "Silent Lies".
The vocals are a little unique, if nothing else; you don't often hear female vocalists in sludge and it's a nice change. She's not fantastic, but she's not bad either. Unfortunately the vocals only have one setting, and often don't seem to fit with what's going on (for example, the intense screams don't sound good over the somber, clean guitar at the end of the first track).
Although there's not much to it and I wouldn't say it's a particularly memorable album overall (or I just haven't listened to it enough yet), it's still definitely one of the better sludge albums I've heard in the last year or two. (It helps that I hear a lot of garbage, too.) Definitely worth a listen (and it's another free download, too!).
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