Last Rizla
Mount Machine

Discovered just a few days ago; thanks to a listen from one of us.

Not much could be read online about Last Rizla; scarce available information.

They hail from Athens, Greece. Started as an instrumental trio and then, if I read correctly with Mount Machine or with the previous EP, they added a singer. Who actually doesn't sing, but shreds his vocal cords with a powerful voice afflicted by a deadly hoarseness.

Only three tracks; over twenty damaging, lethal minutes that emit dirt and filth.

Heavy-Fuzz-Sludge limping, distorted, vibrating.

They repeat the same guitar riff endlessly; sounds exceedingly muddy and low-tuned.

They invent nothing, just to be clear. A sound already heard dozens and dozens of times.

But they literally break through as it happens in the opener Dive. Seven explosive minutes, with a pachyderm-like, suffocating, distressing, sickening pace.

A dark, foul atmosphere hovers during the listen. With the extremely torn voice making the ominous feeling of malaise even graver. It makes you want to crank up the volume to the max: to bring the house walls down.

They repeat themselves in the following Battles: Rambo which is slightly more accessible. A central part dominated by instruments; for a few tens of seconds they ease up, slow down. The guitars become lighter, less noisy. They seem to want to catch a breath; then let themselves go again and take up whirling paths. An overflowing and pitch-black torrent in full flow.

One of the best discoveries of 2019.

Ad Maiora.