What the fuck is going on in the midwest? I guess all those cold winter days spent inside listening to Darkthrone and drinking cough syrup have paid off because between Coffinworm, Wolvhammer and the new Lord Mantis they pretty much have the whole blackened sludge thing nailed down tighter than a really good metaphor for something that’s nailed down incredibly tight. Serious. Lord Mantis’ sophomore release Pervertor is all the shit-caked blackened filth you’d expect from members of Von, Nachtmystium, and Indian but you can forget all that useless pedigree nonsense because this shit stands on its own.

Calling Pervertor “sludge” is like calling a swarm of bees that fire electricity from their asses “an inconvenience”. While it certainly has all the bile and aggression of the best sludge, its closer to a less doom oriented Unearthly Trance or possibly Vore if they decided to play black metal. The riffs are swarming and there is a consistent double bass pummel throughout the album. “Vile Divinity” opens with rolling drums and quickly picked riffing to build to an intensely scummy break, with caustic screams paced alongside the guitar. “At the Mouth” breaks the pattern of midpaced clobber with waves of tremolo picked riffing and blasting drums.

The Sanford Parker production is cold and crisp and gives the drums enough booming depth and punch to stand up to the swirling chaos. Over the course of 45 minutes it gets a little monotonous. They like to tread familiar territory with their riffs and pacing, there aren’t many genuinely slow parts, and they save the fast stuff for the end. The closing duo “At the Mouth” and “The Whip and the Body” end up being the most diverse tracks, and perhaps the most memorable, because they’re the only tracks where they break into a full sprint. It doesn’t take anything away from the record though because Pervertor is about as bile-filled and scummy as this shit gets.

[Visit the band's website]

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