This one off (supposedly) album features some high calibre musicians of the North Western United States. Mike Scheidt of Yob and Tad Doyle provide vocals but this is the brain child of Aaron Edge ex Himsa. Aaron was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in March of this year, a diagnosis which happened by way of three painful Lumbar punctures. This album encapsulates the pain and torment Edge continues to go through. As you can guess it is no happy pop punk album.
The tracks are named days one through to seven and each track consists of doom laden sludge with Tad providing a grunge edge on vox. This is 25 mins of uneasy listening.
Each track carries with it a feeling of impending doom which was tangible before I read an interview online regarding Arron Edges medical issues (credit to NoCLeanSinging). There is a definite melancholic air about the 7 tracks and fans of My Dying Bride would lap up the dirge meant in the nicest possible way).
I have always thought of Tad Doyle as a tragic character, the Yin to Kurt Cobains poster boy Yang in the Seattle scene. He has done much to be proud of in the last 20 years and this project will certainly join his past work in Tad and Brothers of the Sonic Cloth. He and Mike Scheidt are utilised well by Edge on this release. He uses their voices to add to his morose but undulating sonic landscape and whether providing strangled cries of frustration or soaring Seattle lines each “Day” has enough texture to differentiate it from the rest of the week.
This is a CD to have on repeat as the layers unpeel with each listen. This s not one for the drive/walk/ commute to work. This is solitary confinement in aural form. The tracks close in on the listener, trapping you in their earthy waste. There is a real organic feel about this record and never has the genre demarcation “Sludge” felt more apt. This piece of work sounds like it was born in a primeval swamp dragging creatures into its tar like viscosity to die wide eyed and silent , inch by inch as they sink to the bottom. Brrrrrrrrrrrrr! I feel like I need to scrape my skin after listening to it three times on repeat .
Aaron Edge has more music written for other projects but this supposedly is the only release that Lumbar will have. He evidently is a great talent and the idea of the means of articulating that talent eroding as his condition worsens is a tragedy. As a showcase of some of underground metals great talents this is a good record. As a diary of a human beings fight against his own body it is an amazing tale.
(7/10 Matt Mason)
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