Hull – Sole Lord
The End Records (5/26/09)
Metal

Following in the footsteps of Crowbar, Mastodon and Down, with Sole Lord, Hull has crafted a heavy, foreboding slab of down-tuned metallic bliss. The entire album is sludgy, crushing and punishing.

From end to end, the band just grinds along at such a deliberate pace, drifting from the heavy-as-hell grind of metal to an almost ethereal nonchalance in a couple of spots. It could almost give you an anxiety attack waiting to hear what gear they’ll shift into next.

Hull incorporates a three-guitar attack (just take a listen to the tail-end of “Deliverance”) that adds a certain element to the riffs, making them sound almost more complex or expansive, and giving the album an epic feel that’s usually missing from releases in this corner of the metal genre.

There’s no way to fully pull apart the disc and review, track by track, because the album is divided into only a few songs with a number of measures. But the band paints an expansive tale not only through the lyrics, but throughout the expansive soundscape that makes this one of those “experience” albums— where you have to listen to the whole thing—instead of an album with a couple of strong tracks and some good filler.

There’s not much more to add, except that Hull seems to be one of those rare secrets that could explode on the metal scene or fade into obscurity. Metal fans could easily find something to love on here, and hopefully there’s much more Hull to come…

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