Augurs - Old Ways(2013)

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Take a Grind band, make them half as fast, give them a tone Matt Pike himself would be thrilled with and throw on top some of the most desperately fucked up sounding piercing howls and what you come out with is Augurs. The name is a plural noun to define individuals in ancient Rome who would interpret the symbolism in natural phenomenon as applicable information. The name absolutely fits, the guys have definitely paid attention to and interpreted for themselves the many facets of extremely fast and/or heavy music.

Old Ways is the follow up to their 2012 demo and was tracked by none other than Billy Anderson at Cloud City studios in Portland, and mixed by the legendary James Plotkin. This EP also boasts Jesika Christ of the almighty Ludicra(R.I.P) on bass, who unfortunately was unable to continue with the band shortly after this recording.

This EP is very versatile while still remaining coherent, a little less clipping distortion than one usually hears in stuff of this vein, but the big, open warm tone of the bass and guitar utilized in a style such as this really solidified Augurs as totally unique when it comes to the vast soundscape of Crust/Sludge.

Drunk begins with some raw power, the deep mid barking guitar groove makes it almost impossible for me not to move during this song, in fact I am quite distraught that I don't have something to destroy the fuck out of right now!

Charles Manson psycho babble sets the mood for the title track before exploding into a crushing mass of black sludge. Lord's vocals greet you like a swarm of misanthropic locusts that don't give any fucks about the destruction left in their wake while the drums hold a groove focusing on snare and kick cadence creating a sparse background for the labored breaths of guitar. I am the ultimate sucker for triplets where the kick drum covers the first 2 and the snare the last, as such I also don't much like it when this tactic is overused which is why I love that the drums are mostly single strokes with some doubles added here and there to taste. The song ends in a cacophany of feedback and noise leaving me quite hungry for more.

Despite the aproximate 9 minute playing time, this is still one of those albums to be "experienced". The way everything flows and the arc of how everything unfurls still creates an internal journey one might usually look toward a more lengthy release for. This comes out on 7" December 25th, I know I will be grabbing a copy and you probably can too if you stay up to date at the facebook and bandcamps profiles linked above.

-Stonerhound