Style: Progressive Sludge Metal/Hardcore/Mathcore (mixed vocals)
Review by: Zach
Country: US-NH
Release date: 3 December, 2021
Metalheads love to flaunt one thing about our community here. No matter how scary the musicians may look, or the music may be, all of them are complete teddy bears offstage. And this is a fact that rings true quite a bit. But, to most of these bands, there is an element of fun to their music. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Rivers of Nihil, Blood Incantation, and some of Cannibal Corpse, and they were all mild-mannered, stand-up guys. But would I ever go to a Primitive Man show and ask the members for a hug afterward? Fuck no! Absolutely not! They terrify me!
Maybe it’s how genuinely pissed off they sound with their music, which tends to be a factor that makes sludge metal so likable. Just the most raw, feral, angry music you could think of. They had to keep that hardcore ancestry alive somehow. And Christ the Bait is no exception. If the Elders of the blog would allow me, I WOULD BE WRITING THIS REVIEW IN ALL CAPS, JUST TO MATCH THE SHEER AMOUNT OF ANGER IN THIS RECORD.
I can explain it to you another way. From the moment I pressed play, Christ the Bait came into my home, slammed my head on my desk repeatedly, took both of my guitars, broke them over my back, and proceeded to scream in my face until I was practically dead. And then asked me to pay for their time here. So, like any good metal fan, I forked over the cash and thanked them for the beating. All normal for sludge metal bands, I promise you.
‘Mouthguard’ starts with crushing riffs and pummeling double bass just to beat the message that this record is HEAVY into your skull. But this is still a prog record after all. And nothing’s more prog than a little experimentation. Multi-instrumentalist Colin Jenkins switches between sounding like a deeper Mike Williams and punk-esque cleans. The cleans were a little jarring at first, especially with how the song started, but they warmed up to me after a few listens.
Vocal nitpicks aside, Christ the Bait shine in instrumentation and songwriting. They’ve got a great skill that makes the first two songs absolutely fly by, despite an 8 and 11 minute runtime respectively. The build-up and release that joins the two sections of ‘Mouthguard’, and the Barishi-like clean riffs on ‘Idolatrosity’ are enough for me to give this record a solid enough score as is.
But then, we come to the last track. It always scares me when bands put 20+ minute songs at the end of their albums. I know that’s really funny coming from a prog fan, but a song longer than 15 minutes can really start to fall apart if its being dragged out. Or a band could end up with their own ‘Echoes’, a signature track and centerpiece of the album. And I’m happy to report that ‘Domino’, the twenty-four minute closer is…good! It doesn’t exactly fly by like the first two tracks, and Christ the Bait were kind enough to put in a fairly long interlude track just to get you warmed up. But it’s loooooong. Not a bad song by any means, but it feels like a commitment every time I spun Idolatrosities.
However long ‘Domino’ may be, the riffs are still there, the drumming is still intense and pounding, and the lyrics are what really sell this track for me. Clearly taking some inspiration from everyone’s worst nightmare this past year, Jenkins waxes poetic about life after the pandemic and the fears of returning to normal life. However angry he (and the rest of us) may be, this song is mostly clean vocals, making it feel like Christ the Bait are pouring their hearts out to us. Maybe the song was made to make me feel emotionally drained once it finished, and if so, Christ the Bait did a fantastic job.
So, yes, this band came into my home and destroyed all my possessions, but they also sat me down and told me that everyone’s feeling the same way I am right now. Yes, I love lyrics about fantasy and space battles, but sometimes it’s nice to get something a bit more grounded to bring me back to Earth. This is not your typical sludge album, nor should it be treated as such. Christ the Bait are their own beast here, so treat them accordingly. And maybe offer them a hug or two.
Recommended tracks: The whole album it’s only 4 tracks
Recommended for fans of: Buzzoven, Barishi, Subrosa
You may also like: KRTZA, Sea
Final verdict: 8/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify
Label: Independent
Christ the Bait is:
– Colin Jenkins (Guitar, Bass, Vocals, Keyboards, A teensy weensy bit of drums, Production, and Mixing)
– Jake Gardam (Drums)
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