sludge with heart
Shelsmusic has a knack of picking the best bands in heavy music for their roster and we're happy to report that French sludge mob Erlen Meyer are no exception - their debut self titled album (produced by Cult of Luna's Magnus Lindberg) is an impressively heavy duty slab of sludgy metal the kind of heavy that makes your guts vibrate and produces involuntary head nodding.
After a short, gentle introduction track (Gamla Stan)we burst into the opening moments of Nuit which blows you away with its intensity - an almost physical assault to the senses that leaves you reeling. Listen closer, get under the skin of this music though and there is much more waiting to be discovered than doom-laden riffage. Take Agatha, (one of the highlights of the record) which has guitars set so low you fear they may pass out of your aural field, but worked in to the texture of the track is a subtle melodic touch which runs underneath and some delicate changes of tone - vocally it really hits the mark too with a varied approach, French lyrics are audible in the sung moments and are backed by intense screams and guttural growls, a great mix.
The melancholic tones of Les Caprices de Remington immediately follow this emotional ride, this is a soothing track layered with ambient noises (rain falling, a typewriter) which cleanses your palette in the tastiest way for more moody, heady doomy sludge, and that's what you get with their front man laying himself bare vocally on Temple du Cri. The mix of dark and nasty with thoughtful and delicate is pulled off here with aplomb, you may think you've heard it all before but Erlen Meyer have a distinctive sound and we would urge you to listen here with fresh ears as there is much to enjoy.