REVIEW: Slump & At War With The Sun join forces on SP/LIT

I was there the night Slump was born - some people (me) would even say that the band was my idea…

May 2018, Munich: vocalist/guitarist Matt Noble and I had just been to Sleep (the band, not the act) and were continuing to drink in the bedroom of his tiny student flat, near the top of a Brutalist tower block. Matt drunkenly confided in me that he was struggling with not being in a regular band - my answer?

“Mate, *chugs beer* start your own band”

Matt did just that.

Now a mainstay on the underground Stoner/Doom/Sludge circuit, it’s been a long time coming to hear new music from the band - 2020’s singles Nothing More and Degenerate seem a very long time ago now, even though the tracks still hold water and bang heads to this day. New music has been due for a long time, but you’ll have to wait a little longer for my opinion on these two new tracks, because Slump aren’t the only band with a track on this split EP…

Worcester-based Sludge-mongers At War With The Sun kick things off in style with the dense, compact, uncompromising stomp of The Garden. This band like things slow, mournful and oppressively heavy - this track is no different. Eerily serene clean guitar work in the intro quickly gives way to filthy, snail-paced riffing of the highest quality, while vocalist Jon Weatherill’s tortured shrieks lend the track an urgency and desperation, despite it being torturously slow. Clocking in at just under 10 minutes and being at a BPM that is certainly only two digits long and absolutely cannot start with anything more than a 7 (I didn’t measure exactly, that isn’t the point), this is exactly the sort of track that Doom-Hating Metal hipsters might sneer at and slap with the ‘Wizards of Electric Witch Weed’ trope - to do so would be a grave error. 

The second half of the track opens up into a hellish expanse that brilliantly showcases the quality of musicianship in abundance throughout this band. A bravely sparse solo section provides some light relief from the pummeling, showcasing not only a measured and achingly sorrowful solo from Weatherill but also mind-bendingly disciplined drumming from Alex Keen. Both then take a back seat as Karl Bicknell’s dextrous bass playing leads the track towards a terrifying, phasered-out close. It's like looking into an infinite horizon, except that you can’t look any more because your eyes have been melted away by toxic sludge and all that remains is to listen on, incapacitated, as the grinding guitar slowly eats away at whatever remains of your ear drums… disgracefully good stuff.

At War With The Sun - The Garden (live at Sludgefest 2022)

Then, just as you think you’ll be in for a whole album of similarly elephantine aural assault, Slump ramp the pace up with the total barnstormer that is Dust. Now a live favourite in the band’s set (and with good reason), this track is a high-octane romp that combines Stoner-Rock swagger with songwriting quality that would not be out of place in venues ten times the size of the ones Slump currently frequent. Noble’s guitar ability has never been in doubt - this track features an infectious riff and his signature arpeggiated leads - but Dust really sees the frontman find his voice, wailing out the chorus hook “I hear a storm coming” with strength and staggering aplomb. Elsewhere, drummer David Kabbouri demonstrates considerable chops and lends a dynamism to the track which would be near impossible to replicate were a different drummer behind the kit. Slump really should have been dragged out of the underground by now, and this track might be the one that gives them a leg up.

Two tracks in, two different moods - the apocalyptic Yin of The Garden and the soaring Yang of Dust… the only way SP/LIT could possibly end is in a synthesis of these two. Slump achieve that with closing track, Kneel. A slower, darker affair than Dust, without losing the swagger evident in abundance on the former track, Kneel sees Slump venture into new, heavier territory. With a riff owing more to Crowbar and Down than Kyuss and Truckfighters and gruesome screams from Noble which have, until now, been absent from Slump’s recorded output, this track feels like it could herald in a new, far heavier era for the band.

Not content to rely solely upon the considerable guitar prowess of Noble, Kneel sees bass player Olly Lawrence take centre stage with some Geezer Butler-esque trills and assuredly take the lead for a rhythm section-only passage, boasting a tone that threatens to render you completely incontinent. Elsewhere, catchy, harmonised vocals balance out the screams and show that even when turning up the heaviness dial, the band still have an uncanny ability to write an ear-worm melody. If this really is the new Slump, long may they churn out accessible, catchy barrels of Sludge like this!

Just fucking listen to it/10

Slump: Facebook | Instagram | Bandcamp | Spotify - FFO: Down, Crowbar, Kyuss

At War With The Sun: Facebook | Instagram | Bandcamp | Spotify - FFO: Thou, Chained to the Bottom of the Ocean, Khanate

Tour dates:

08/12/2023 - Paradiddles  Music Cafe Bar, Worcester (*EP LAUNCH)

28/01/2024 - Captain’s Bar, Stoke

02/02/2024 - Dark Horse Moseley, Birmingham

23/02/2024 - The Gryphon, Bristol (AWWTS only)

31/03/2024 - Riffznbeerzfest, Leicester

05/04/2024 - Redrum, Stafford

BP