Review by Sandre the Giant
I don’t know how anyone could pass by a sludge band called Ten Ton Slug, with THAT album cover, and not immediately want to get involved with it? The Irish slime lords have been sludging it up for a decade at this point, but ‘Colossal Oppressor’ is actually their debut full length. It is out now, self released.
I’ll be honest, as soon as the rumbling tones of opener ‘The Ooze’ hit my ears, I was almost disappointed. I was expecting my guess to be wrong and this was something other than titanic doom riffs and fierce vocal roars. But this is exactly what Ten Ton Slug do and I was thrilled to be wrong. Sometimes you need a band to do what it says on the tin, and that is exactly what this is; huge mossy doom riffs groaning under pounding drums and a rumbling bass while vocalist Rónán O ‘hArrachtáin knocks out some big cavernous roars and growls. ‘Ancient Ways’ is a bruising, groove laden monster, as is the fantastic ‘Mindless and Blind’, that reminds me of Crowbar at their most ferocious. It gets a little death/doomy in places too, and there also seems to be a little unannounced Swedeath influence in there too (some of those melody riffs give me real Dismember vibes). By the time the grinding closer ‘Morgore the Unkind’ comes to its crashing, looming conclusion, you’ll be sold big time.
Atrociously catchy, endlessly heavy and full of moments that make you nod your head with a righteous smile, ‘Colossal Oppressor’ is a mammoth riff slugger (pardon the pun) in the oldest school way possible. Ten Ton Slug know exactly what to do with the tools provided, and that is create a record of granite riffs, dense atmospheric pieces and an innate, primal power. This record is living in my head rent free for a while.
https://www.facebook.com/TenTonSlug
https://tentonslug.bandcamp.com/album/colossal-oppressor
The Killchain 