BATILLUS

Every time those three little words ("big", "bad", and "ugly") pop into my head when listening to a doom/sludge release, it almost always leads to a positive review. Enter BATILLUS' "Furnace" and those are indeed the first words that swam through the gray matter. As such, I've nothing but positives to shower on the beast that crawls along the bottom and spreads more infection than The Plague. And you know that since Sanford Parker recorded "Furnace" that the resulting sounds are overwhelmingly dense and sonically destructive.

Often a crawl, sometimes a giant's stride, and in one case (the black metal meets doom of "Uncreator", the album's shortest cut),the pace of any one of these six tracks makes one think twice about getting in the way. Leading is not an option and following only works if one can handle walking through the wreckage. Generally in the eight to nine minute range, the noted exception notwithstanding, the songs of "Furnace" are heavier than that really heavy thing Devin Townsend talked about. They're also composed with a relative degree of complexity within the doom/sludge construct. For as corrosive and suffocating as the mammoth-riffed, distorted crush may be on tracks like "...And the World is as Night to Them" or "The Division", the moments of cold post-metal strumming and the slivers of melody, often enhanced with light synth lines, provide effective contrast.

A reprieve from the gloominess and outright terror is never within sight, no matter the movement to a new level of musical existence. Rather, it is more along the lines of BATILLUS changing up the torture tactics inflicted upon the bound prisoner. Consider the removal of fingernails with a rusty pair of pliers in order to force a confession juxtaposed against being left in a dark, dank room while bound to a metal chair, gripped with fear at the thought of the next interrogation session.

In other words, "Furnace" is about the mental as much as it is the physical. The pain is real, regardless of its form. BATILLUS delivers a big 'ole box of torment to the unsuspecting recipient and that sucker is one heavy son of a bitch. Wear a back brace and bend at the knees.