REVIEW: Dust - A Sonic Trip With Slump

Slump are a band very much in the ascendency right now (hopefully the cheque they gave me to write that will clear by the time this publishes) - with an ever increasing live presence across the UK and a burgeoning brand of distinctive Sludge Metal-tinged, Grunge-infused psychedelic rock, there has never been a better time to get fully behind a band who are working hard to make their way out of the murky backwaters of the UK Underground Doom scene.

2024 has seen the band going from strength to strength, playing sweaty, breathless shows in literally every single city across the entire country, to releasing the gnarly SP/LIT EP with the frighteningly heavy At War With the Sun. Given the band's somewhat frustrating past habit of having long gaps between releases, you'd have been forgiven for assuming that would be it from Noble, Kabu and co. for the year... fortunately, on this occasion, the band have proved us extremely wrong!

Dust marks yet another step forward for Slump. Having graduated from putting out standalone singles, this time we are treated to as many as four tracks of groovy, dirty goodness. Alongside old friends and live staples like the neck-snapping Kneel and soaring opener Dust (you can read my previous review of these two tracks here), this time the party includes two new bangers: Buried and Vultures, with each bringing a new facet to a sound that is fast becoming distinct as Slump's very own.

Buried provides the perfect antidote to a track like Dust - a syncopated riff, hummable melody and disco-influenced drums combine with tongue in cheek references to Queens of the Stone Age to demonstrate with stark clarity that Slump are able to craft catchy Stoner Rock bangers even when not at full throttle in terms of pace. Vultures also demonstrates a new side of the band - a brooding and contemplative exploration of negative space. Droning passages, jarring dyads and liberal deployment of Matt Noble's larynx-busting scream open up into the finest guitar solo on the record, sumptuously modulating into a major, uplifting, anthemic conclusion. This track is as much evidence as one could possibly need that Slump have the songwriting ability to back up their ample Arsenal of genre-appropriate chops.

As a whole, this EP leaves multiple itches thoroughly scratched: barnstorming opener that will get a crowd bouncing, groovy mid-tempo bro-down, sludgy epic featuring some of the heaviest riffing you'll hear this year, and a progressive, transcendental finale. This is the sound of a band spreading its wings (geddit? Vultures hahaha) and finding ways to innovate in a genre that many corduroy-wearers might have once decried as old, tired and cliché. One can only dare to imagine what Slump have in store for us next. If you aren't already occupying a first class seat on the Slump hype-train, make sure you squeeze on now, as it briefly stops at this station before steaming off to bigger and better things. The bragging rights of "I knew Slump before they got big" are ones that you're going to want to be able to flex with for the foreseeable future.

FFO: Down, Crowbar, QOTSA

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Dust is released everywhere today.

BP