Style: atmospheric sludge metal, doom metal, metalcore, screamo (harsh vocals)
Review by: Sam
Country: US-CA
Release date: 26 February, 2021
Over the course of the past few months I’ve been doing various discography runs. By doing at least an album a day I went through a ton of new artists. The most notable product of these adventures is that I got into post-metal, doing five of the major artists in The Ocean, Neurosis, Cult of Luna, Isis, and Intronaut. This album by Black Sheep Wall is the first time since then I’ve gone to review a post-metal album. Or at least, that’s what it said on our spreadsheet. Because unfortunately for me, post-metal this is not (being the closely related atmospheric sludge metal instead). And to make it even worse, it has very significant influences of two of my most Loathed genres in metalcore and screamo. Being stubborn as I am, I couldn’t just give it to someone else, because I strongly felt like I just had to finish the task I had set out to do.
What drew me to this album was the humongous, thicc sludge riffs, great production value, and amazing looking album art. And indeed those elements are all done really well. The album sounds exactly how you want an album in this genre to sound. This riffs sound massive, the bass tone is thicc, the vocals are front-and-center without overtaking the instruments, and the drums have a dry punch that compliments the rest really well. It’s balanced very well, both in terms of mixing and mastering. It’s loud when it needs to be, but also spacious and soft when it needs to be so you don’t get ear fatigue.
What did give me ear fatigue though were the vocals, but that’s more personal taste. I absolutely can’t fault Brandon for his vocal performance. He brings that typical metalcore angry sound into his harshes, and he’s very convincing at it. It’s a very powerful, animated performance that’s far from one-note. I imagine he gets great strength from the lyrics, which he told were very personal to Invisible Oranges in an interview. The lyrics tackle a number of things. As I understand it, they tackle the perils of growing up in too much comfort and how it makes you weak, likening it to a relation where only lust counts, but at the same time critiquing society for how much financially worse the current generation has it compared to previous ones (“Your savings are our debt and we fucking hate you”). It’s a great deal of hatred, both at himself and at the world. They’re written in a very direct and confronting style, making it both personal to the author and very relatable to the listener. They did a great job with them in my opinion.
I found the songwriting largely strong here, but there are some caveats. The band is at their best during the active, riff-heavy parts. The riffs are so heavy it feels like an elephant stepped on you. They use various riff patterns to keep it dynamic, and the drums follow suit during these parts with a good amount of fills and rhythms. The third song “Concrete God” is a prime example of this and easily a highlight on the album. Where it tends to fall flat though is during the more atmospheric bits. It reminds me a lot of early Intronaut tonally during the more quiet parts, but they fail to sufficiently progress the atmosphere, making it sound really lethargic. Whereas a band like Cult of Luna constantly builds up the intensity with increasingly intricate fills and atmosphere, Black Sheep Wall lacks good melodic progression and the drumming remains in the same place too much.
The lack of lead play in general I found to be problematic on this album. Not that this is a genre known for flashy guitar solos, but nearly every cathartic part seemed to stem from a breakdown. This album would have greatly benefitted from some more expressive melodic atmosphere. In the opener “Human Shaped Hole” I was teased with weedly weedly leads that, though admittedly I’m not a fan of personally, would have greatly helped in giving the album more variety. By the time the second song “New Measures of Failure” concludes its 13 minute runtime, I’ve nearly forgotten about them entirely. The song in general is exemplary for both everything this album does right and everything it does wrong, starting with a great riffing assault, but eventually devolves into endless boring atmosphere. As the song reaches its climax and they shout “I hope you hate me \\ I hope you always hate me” I think to myself “well, I sure do now.” Not even the trumpet cameo on “Ren” can save the atmosphere in that regard.
I don’t think Songs for the Enamel Queen is an unsalvageable record. Despite the flaws I mentioned and its relatively lengthy 59-minute runtime, the album is surprisingly listenable and for the most part captivating enough to offset boredom (though some atmospheric parts can be a real slog). At its peak this is some very good sludge metal, and I suspect that those who don’t have the innate metalcore dislike that I have will get a lot more mileage out of this album. I wholeheartedly recommend this album for anyone who likes their metal heavy and groovy, because it delivers those aspects in spades.
Recommended tracks: Concrete God, Prayer Sheet for Wound and Nail
Recommended for fans of: Gojira, Cult of Luna, (early) The Ocean, (early) Intronaut, riffs as heavy as an elephant stepping on you
Final verdict: 6/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Facebook | Twitter | Metal-Archives page
Label: Silent Pendulum Records – Bandcamp | Website | Facebook
Black Sheep Wall is:
– Brandon Gillichbauer (vocals)
– Scott Turner (guitars)
– Andrew Hulle (guitars)
– Juan Hernandez Cruz (bass)
– Jackson Thompson (drums)
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