review: Holden

Holden

Ursa Minor

8 May 2020

At some fundamental level, they must love the blues stoner rock heaviness of the 1970s. You can hear it in the heavy riffs. But on the first song the band, as Mr. Rogers would say, sounds angry, very angry. The drummer sounds like he is frowning at his drum set and beating it up for some undisclosed reason that only the drum set and the musician know. The vocalist seems like he is hurting himself popping veins while screaming, and sounds intense enough for shrieking black metal. For some reason, it makes sense that they would have a bear on the cover. Don’t poke the bear. You would not be wrong if you felt that this band is trying to cause damage to your hearing. If you turn this thing up the reverberating distortion comes out rattling, shaking, suggesting how this would sound live at a show. Hearing protection required. Duly noted. But there is something else. The rattling distortion and angry vocals of the first song are cool and all, but the guitars keep making this sound, a certain hook (I’m not musician! Don’t ask for a note name); it’s repetitive, and then it’s addictive. That’s when the song really hits, and then it all makes sense.

There is more than meets the eye. They have other dimensions that sludge bands usually don’t, like the third song, in which they show a melodic side of sludge doom and it’s so uptempo that you might even say that this is not sludge. Completely unexpected. By time you are in the middle of this work, you should be pleased with how much this band is keeping sludge fresh. There are also some additional little things to note, like a bit of blasting on song number four. It’s a bit surprising, too, just because sludge bands have a reputation for, well, you know, not blasting. Lastly, the band has way more melody than sludge generally offers. While some bands tend to be very genre-centered, almost fearful to explore in their slowpoke music, this group is not so caught up with categories, only loud volume, heaviness and adding some melodies. The willingness and ability to do these other things with sludge should resonate with fans of the whole super duper stoner doom sludge gamut, of course, but for people who are jaded or bored with sludge bands playing it too safe, this one may be more interesting. A nice change of pace within sludge.

judgeholden.bandcamp.com/album/ursa-minor