Raging Speedhorn
Before The Sea Was Built

If there were still those out there who - shamefully wrong - thought that sludge was nothing more than a subgenre destined to vomit out the same muck and wallow in the usual putrid swamp until the end of its days, they were obviously mistaken (just think of what Soilent Green, EyeHateGod, Graveyard Rodeo, 16, Grief, etc., etc. have managed to achieve), but now they will have further proof of the fallacy of such beliefs.

Raging Speedhorn, when they might have found themselves in trouble, having had to face the simultaneous departure of Frank Regan and Darren Smith (singer and bassist respectively, now replaced by ex-Iron Monkey and Helvis Bloody Kev and Dave Thompson), have showcased all their skill, which no one ever doubted, in order to release a supreme work.

Basically, it is a solid entity born from the fusion of heavy metal, hard/noise rock, and hardcore/crust. I wouldn't go any further with stylistic descriptions and the various and multiple offshoots that can be encountered within the ten tracks, because it is really the cohesion (in change) that dominates in the scant half-hour (this is the only regret, certainly not a flaw) of "Before The Sea Was Built". Riffs more memorable than imaginable. A constant sonic heaviness. A continuous expression of suffering. Musical hypnosis that not only delves into the murky but dares to rework the teachings of Tool and transpose them into an extreme context, just as - to my enormous surprise - they even have the audacity to violate what is usually called screamo, but here becomes a wheezing and belligerent entity.

Despite each track having a precise identity, what makes the album even more magnificent is its constant growth and the wonderfully complete form it assumes when the last note closes it, bringing a definitive endeavor to completion. The skills demonstrated by the British band on the occasion of their fourth album are indicative of how the progression and mutation undertaken have been perfectly successful.