Grime
Deteriorate

The Grime, a quartet from Trieste, are devoted to the most corrosive and foul Sludge Metal I've ever had the chance to listen to. In this regard, they are quite similar to more renowned bands of the genre with decades of activity behind them, such as the legendary Iron Monkey or the Japanese Church Of Misery and Greenmachine.

This “Deteriorate” is their second full-length album, released in 2013, and I must admit it is the most ignorant and unhealthy thing I'm currently listening to. The 8 tracks making up the album, with a total duration of 40 minutes, are pachydermic. The guitars are tuned down to the lowest limits and assaulted by searing fuzz. The tempos are not particularly complex being Sludge Doom, but the drums pound as they should and with the help of the bass, the band knows how to make the ears of the unsuspecting listener ring.

Standing above all is the singer, who screams into the microphone as if he were the frontman of Bongzilla on amphetamines. There they are, more or less, the references for anyone wishing to delve into the listening of this bubbling cauldron of sludge and mire.

The opening track “Burning Down The Cross” and the following “Pouring Out The Hatred” immediately set things clear: gritty and fierce Doom with Sludge connotations, with that singing that scratches your throat enough to make it feel rotten and repulsive. “Down By The River Of Dreg” starts slow and heavy, only to kick off with a riff and possessed, devilish vocals. After a guitar feedback, here comes the track “Giving Up,” perhaps the piece most reminiscent of Bongzilla's “Stash” with its doped and heavy riffs like a boulder. The other three tracks, “Deep Cut,” “Pills,” and “Restless Man,” travel the same muddy coordinates. Finally, I mention the concluding “Idiot God” as the best track of the batch, a piece that lasts 6'30'' and is molten lava seeming to emerge from the bowels of Hell, so rotten and corrupt it is.

The Grime, therefore, play Sludge, and they do it damn well, without costing you an arm and a leg since the album can be downloaded with their entire discography at the base price of 1 euro for the digital format on Bandcamp. A special mention also for the album cover, really well-done and paying tribute to the sonic intransigence of their proposal.

If you like the bands I've mentioned in the review, give them a listen; I think you won't regret it, you'll also get dragged into the quicksand of this “Deteriorate”!