Artist..: Warcrab

Album...: The Howling Silence

Genre...: Death Metal                | Label...: Transcending Obscurity
Year....: 2023                       | Cat.No..:

R.date..: 2023-11-02                 | S.date..: 2023-11-03

Source..: WEB (24bit)                | Encoder.: libFLAC
Bitrate.: 1694kbps avg.              | F.Rate..: 44.1kHz

http://open.qobuz.com/album/pt8q0tflr61pb

Disc 1 / 1

01. Orbital Graveyard                                               4:06
02. Titan of War                                                    5:53
03. Black Serpent Coils                                             5:29
04. Sword of Mars                                                   4:31
05. As the Mourners Turn Away                                       8:54
06. Sourlands Under a Rancid Sun                                    5:50
07. Howling Silence                                                10:41

(574.57MB) 00:45:24

Surprise! I know many of you have been patiently waiting for Holdeneye‘s
review of the fourth full-length from UK death sludge slingers Warcrab,
given how he so shamelessly ran his tongue all over their exoskeleton’s
undercarriage when he reviewed their last outing, Damned In Endless Night.
Well this time you get me. Don’t worry, Holdy‘s fine. He’s certainly not
bound and ball-gagged in my garden shed dressed like Adventure Time’s Finn
the Human, slipping in and out of consciousness in a chloroform haze. He
was simply busy this week and remembered how much I also enjoyed Warcrab’s
last album, so he turned over reviewing duties to yours truly. After
spending a couple weeks with The Howling Silence, I’m happy to report the
band’s unholy crustaceous hybrid of head-stomping death metal and
gut-grinding sludge is nastier than ever. Turn it up nice and loud and it
will easily drown out the muffled cries coming from your garden shed.1

Structurally, The Howling Silence is like a seesaw. On one side sits the
likes of Carcass and Bolt Thrower. On the other, Crowbar and Grief. The
first four songs/20 minutes of the record tip toward the former while the
final three songs/25 minutes land hard on the latter. There are occasional
stoner influences popping up, as on the buoyant bass line and exemplary
stoner riff that makes up the first half of “Black Serpent Coils” before
it gives way to driving, jittery death metal. “Sword of Mars,” one of many
standouts, almost tips into Amon Amarth territory with its fist-pumping,
battle-ready gallop, but Warcrab are able to balance their shifting styles
so that no one sound dominates the seesaw.

Some albums succeed because of a unique sound, or because of an
all-encompassing atmosphere. The Howling Silence succeeds because nearly
every song will liven up the playlist of your choice. “Orbital Graveyard”
is an ideal album opener, tearing through four minutes of vicious death
metal with the slightest hardcore undercurrent and a quirky repeating
guitar lick. I’ve already mentioned the brutal “Sword of Mars,” like a
boxer pummeling you with body shots while guitarist Geoff Holmes shreds
solos over your anguished cries, and “Black Serpent Coils,” with that
incredible pivot from righteous stoner sludge to high energy death
riffing. But in the midst of all these bangers, my favorite song on The
Howling Silence is “Sourlands Under a Rancid Sky.” Where doomy cuts like
the title track and “As the Mourners Turn Away” invoke Crowbar with their
heart-on-sleeve sludge doom, “Sourlands” takes a page straight from
Grief’s ugly, pissed-off sludge doom playbook. The song grows gnarlier and
heavier as it goes and is one of the best songs of the style I’ve heard in
the last five or so years.

Warcrab have made tremendous strides refining their sound with each
release going back to their 2012 debut, but even then, there weren’t many
bands doing what they do. On their first couple of records, there was an
indistinct slurry of sludgy death doom that grew sharper and more death-y
until the excellent Damned In Endless Night finally tipped more in the
death doom direction. With The Howling Silence, Warcrab both re-instates
their sludge doom bonafides and leans into proper OSDM in ways they
haven’t before. In recent years, a small number of like-minded outfits
have toyed with the same winning death metal/sludge doom combination. I’ve
personally reviewed one or two. You could say a bigger name playing in the
same arena is Inter Arma, but they’ve always been more post-metal with
sludge and death inclinations. Simply put, nobody plays this burgeoning
style better than Warcrab.

It’s no small feat to become the touchstone of a sub-genre, but Warcrab
have done so through experimentation and refinement over their decade-long
career. You’d think death sludge would be a more popular hybrid style, but
lack of competition detracts nothing from the band’s accomplishments. The
Howling Silence is their best record to date, boasting highly refined
songwriting and a fully realized sound. I know at least one AOTY list it
will be appearing on...

ixxu!imp