I won’t deny it – I love Chained To The Bottom Of The Ocean. Not only do they have one of the best band names (that I am fully aware is taken from a track title by genre-buddies Thou) but they also seem to be able to play the most filthy and lead-bottomed music with a certain youthful, raw misbehaviour that many bands fail to hit.
Now they have returned with a new EP with an equally excellent name. This follows up their gloriously mucky 2024 release ‘Sisyphean Cruelty’ and the equally mud-caked ‘Obsession Destruction’ (2023) – albeit with the odd EP and other release in between.
See, the thing about CTTBOTO is that they uniquely and compellingly produce an ever-decreasing circle of the darkest, heaviest and most majestically impenetrable doomy sludge – but still seem to be able to weave a very thin thread of almost grungy punkiness throughout. Where their ferocious riffing and grotesquely gnarled vocals sit miserably alongside other bands of the genre – such as Bile Caster, Body Void and, obviously, Thou; they carry an intangible and rebellious element through, not only the four tracks of this new EP, but also their entire back catalogue.
This was backed up when I finally saw them live in the UK earlier this year. Their show, and the way they present their music, is the language of social alienation, of trauma and of resignation. Rather than just sounding heavy, they each individually bring a personal heaviness that (probably need the opposite of) shines through.
‘Let Us Not Speak of Them but Look and Pass On’ meanders from extreme sludge to almost trudging funeral doom sections, yet maintains perfectly adequate levels of screaming feedback, groove-driven rhythms and howling-void bass tones. There are no weak moments at all from the opening zeal of ‘An Abundance of Mercy’ to the closing breaths of ‘Execution’.
Transcendental, contemplative, distinctive yet abhorrently violent. How utterly wonderful.
Best Paired With: an elephant, a weekend power lifting experience and a tongue tattoo.
Reviewed by Jaff
Chained to the Bottom of the Ocean – Let Us Not Speak Of Them But Look And Pass On is out now on redscroll records.
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