SOURVEIN

Oh it's ugly alright...hairy and sticky too. SOURVEIN has returned with another helping of viscous swamp dirges. Guitars cranked to 10, the four stings just a buzzin, and T-Roy Medlin's (ex-BUZZOV*EN) vokills a tad less scratchy and every bit as brain-fried and miserable as WEEDEATER's Dave "Dixie" Collins. "Emerald Vulture" is the first of three planned EPs, these particular four tracks ones that stagger shitty drunk and drone-drenched into the vaporous night. Maneuvering through hurricane-induced delays, T-Roy and SOURVEIN manage to barf up another chunk of bile pie.

A major member shakeup after 2002's gnarly "Will to Mangle" has done nothing to alter the southern baked, hate-doom style. A "better" mix courtesy of Vince Burke (BEATEN BACK TO PURE) and Sniper Studio does not translate to "cleaner". Burke just happens to know how to capture the band's sludgified sound. That much becomes immediately obvious as soon as "Blessed" begins its descent into the natural habitat of the bottom-feeder. Listen close and you will hear slight tempo changes (accented nicely with medium-paced snare smacks) that shakily move from steady march to deathly crawl on the title track. By God there's even some spring in the foot-draggin' step of a beast called "Witch Rides Out…" Dare I say there is a sliver of boogie going on, albeit in a slow motion, drug-addled kind of way. Make it through the hazy shade of angry on the first three and a half minutes of "Heart of Ebon" and then enjoy 10 minutes of sonic scrape, kind of an obnoxious gateway to EP #2. Me? I can't wait.