Review of "Lava" by Ellen Simpson of Vampire Magazine. You can read the original review at http://www.vampire-magazine.com/article.php?aid=45525.
"Swiss death and doom merchants Sludge, who famously feature Samael's Makro on guitar, are back with their fourth full-length release, "Lava", and if you haven't encountered them before then this is a good stop at which to board their destructive and monumentally heavy train. The atmosphere, heaviness, groove and aggression of previous outings are all audible, brought together on one razor-edged, fiendishly modern disc.
Any attempt to describe Sludge's sound usually resorts to 'Entombed meets latter-day Celtic Frost' possibly because they've had it at the head of their press release for so long it has cemented itself as truth. To pick the assertion apart a bit, the Entombed reference arises from Sludge's catchy, rollicking mastery of pace and thunderous drum sound; opening tracks "60MM" and "Idi Na Hui" have enough rocking, crisp, yet utterly crushing moments to pack out the whole album of a lesser Swedish-sound imitator. The Celtic Frost reference should give you hints about just how fucking heavy Sludge sound; Alan Douches' mastering has brought out a monster. It also reveals the strength of focus Sludge have on atmosphere and aura, the aspects which give this quite diverse album its coherency.
The tracks on offer range from the aforementioned death metal rollers and the fast feet and head-bang inspiring groove of "Carnivore", through the extremely slow, atmospheric doom sounds of the title track to the huge, epic, experimental sounds of "Inquisition". The doom influence is not the gentle, mournful British style, but rather a more actively despairing (but still, well, sludgy) racket. Sure, the track "Lava" has some delicate guitar layers, but mainly it's the more brutal conjunction of slow pacing and tomb-door-slamming heaviness that characterises the album. The endless howl of new vocalist Odin really adds to the destructive and despairing feel, and a number of industrial effects, beats and breakdowns are a really fitting addition in keeping with the general tone and the level of modernity aimed for.
On one album, Sludge encompass up-tempo death'n'roll and broken, tortured, noisy doom without sounding self-indulgent; a coherency of atmosphere and an unbending level of sheer heaviness, that needs to be heard to be believed, keep this accomplished, often technical, album headed down the tracks safely. "Lava" really isn't like much else out there; its hellish sound and destructive aura might challenge you, but you will not avoid being impressed".