By Tim Bolitho-Jones
Now that the festive season is upon us, there’s no better time to pick up ‘The Tide, Beneath, The Wall.’ This three-track EP from Milton Keynes sludge duo Tuskar is 20 minutes of nightmarish hell music, dragged from the deepest, darkest charnel pit and vomited unpleasantly into life. It’s a snapshot of screaming, Lynchian madness and about as pleasant as crawling naked through a room full of used needles while dragging the corpse of a beloved family pet behind you. The perfect accompaniment to a night of sledging beneath the twinkling wintery stars then.
If that doesn’t give it away, let’s put it simply; Tuskar are as heavy as the densest sandstone pyramid. It’s really quite impressive that two guys have managed to concoct an EP as thick and pummelling as this. Take ‘The Tide’ for example; it starts off slowly and ominously, rumbling like Santa’s belly after four hundred houses worth of mince pies and brandy. And then three minutes into the “song” the speakers suddenly explode with blast beats and it plunges headlong into a barrage of thundering fury.
‘Beneath’ follows and is what Kylesa would be like if they forgot to take their meds. It starts with some groovy guitar work and tribal drumming, but soon descends into pure darkness. It’s catchy in a bleak sort of way and ends so abruptly, it’s akin to hearing a torture victim’s cry of agony being suddenly cut short.
‘The Wall’ rounds things off with what sounds like reverb-laced throat singing, but may just be some vast Lovecraftian monster yawning as it wakes up after a thousand year slumber. It’s full of riffs that are closer to air raid sirens than anything a guitar would be expected to make and the vocals are so low in the mix they might have been summoned from another dimension.
In short, this is an ace three-tracker from a promising new sludge band. Tuskar are not a nice listen, but they are deeply atmospheric and are an enticing reminder of how grubby metal gets in the dingy little venues where hardly anybody goes. Stick this on the stereo on this time next week and there’ll be a pile of dead reindeer on your lawn by morning. It’s the most wonderful time of the year.
• ‘The Tide, Beneath, The Wall’ is out now. You can get your copy HERE.
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