CD review, Oct 09. Laudanum – The Coronation (20 Buck Spin) CD

I looked forward to hearing this sophomore album from Oakland’s Laudanum as I knew they specialized in a crusty kind of sludge and that’s fine by me, the heavier the better. The Coronation is more than a simple riff beast though, mixing as it does challenging atmospheric soundscape passages amongst the occasional heavy rythms. We’re five minutes in before we get the first hint of ‘music’ in the form of a simple bassline, shortly followed by a beautifully crushing groove familiar to fans of Graves/Buried at Sea. This is the true sludge shit, one might say. Graves at Sea’s Nathan Mistrek soon nails the black colours to the cross with that black Metalized sludge scream best exemplified by the mighty Burning Witch. The next passage sounds like something out of the Omen or more specifically the eerie Lux Aeterna from the film 2001. That sets the template for this seriously weighty and uncompromising musical experimentation that arguably straddles the line between vision and self indulgence. We have heard this before but rarely so powerful and complete. The Coronation is a fine and worthy addition to the genre.