Cough – Sigillum Luciferi
Review by John Pegoraro (StonerRock.com)
Forcefield Records
Release date: 2008


I generally try not to steal directly from other people's reviews, but this comment on Cough's excellent Sigillum Luciferi really says it all: “Now that doom has largely moved on to artier pastures it's nice to hear something raw and dirty like this, more at home in the welfare line then the art gallery” (courtesy Dave Don't Try).

Because that's pretty much what this six song slab of slow 'n' heavy is: guttural sludge-doom that's stripped down and primal, tapping into the same raw energy that made Buried at Sea's Migration, Weedeater's Sixteen Tons, and Electric Wizard's Dopethrone the classics they are. There's a bit of each three of those albums in Sigillum Luciferi - the crushing, seething rage of Buried at Sea, the crushing grooves of Weedeater, and the crushing, stoner-atmospheric doom riffs of Electric Wizard. That's a whole lot of crushing going on (best exemplified on “Hole in the Infinite.” Or “Northern Plague.” Wait, I meant “Shallow Grave”) and in lesser hands the songs would decompose into one loud, turgid morass of ungainly riffs – especially since half of the tracks creep past the ten minute mark . Not so with Cough. It may be raw and dirty, but it's also smartly done. Recommended.

URL: http://www.myspace.com/cough666