genres: blackened sludge metal
“Everything is fucked/But Jesus saves”. Úzkost (formerly Slaves BC) sum up their second full length perfectly with these last two lines of “We Are All God’s Fault”. I read lots of heavy music coverage from all over the internet, and had heard whisperings about this band for years from many writers on the hardcore beat, and as that’s a genre I find to be fairly cookie cutter. And yes, on the surface, Lo, and I Am Burning is a straightforward enough blend of hardcore writing and black metal tremolo picking and shrieks. Dig a little deeper though, and you’ll find one of the best underground acts in extreme metal.
While the instrumentation and moment-to-moment sounds don’t offer anything that innovative, the songwriting is surprisingly varied. With songs ranging from 0:45 to 7:29 in length, compositional tactics are borrowed with great success from both grindcore and sludge to keep listeners on their toes throughout the run time. Lyrically, the album turns some unexpected corners as well. Despite receiving absolutely no coverage or awareness from Christian music sites, even those dedicated to more fringe and extreme bands (likely due to a healthy amount of expletives and very dark subject matter), this album has moments of both evangelism and worship while never feeling trite or compromising the crushing atmosphere. The band isn’t afraid to honestly express mental health issues or address gross injustice in society either. Finally, the production just sounds GREAT. For playing almost exclusively in genres known almost as much for their terrible production as their music, everything sounds huge, rich, and clean. This certainly isn’t an easy record to get into, but for those itching for some quality and depth in extreme genres, you can’t do much better than Lo, and I Am Burning.
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