TarLung / KRPL - Split EP

 

 

TarLung / KRPL - Split EP
Kerberos Records - March 2021
Sludge, stoner, noise
Rated: ****

Beneath the deceptively sweet cover art, Austrian trios TarLung and KRPL's Split EP is a fuzzy mass of tasty riffs and brutal weight. The first pair of tunes comes courtesy of Vienna's TarLung, who build a bouncing groove into a swinging, stomping mammoth of sound. Filthy sludge riffs saw their way through crashing cymbals, and as if the assault wasn't heavy enough, the gravel-belching vocals are nearly death metal-level guttural. The groove is never lost amid the noise, however, and continues into the head-nodding pulse of "Deceit". Joined by some classic stoner bounce, wave after weighted wave of fuzz pushes forward before slowly tumbling into a climax.

 
Following in their countrymen's plodding footsteps, Graz, Austria's instrumental outfit KRPL are an altogether different beast, and deliver a shot in the arm with "Konkurs". The tempo jumps up and a never-ending deluge of cutting riffs is let loose, refusing to let the listener catch their breath. The guitar is labyrinthine in its maze-like turns and switchbacks, pairing with crashing and driving drums to create stoner/noise rock insanity. Closer "Grapefruiting" is no less abrasive, building and building with thrashy energy and pummeling kitwork, until finally diving into a mire of hammering low end. The licks are taut and whip smart, and end in a gory finale of caustic riffery. TarLung and KRPL live at two very different parts of the heavy spectrum, but their shared talent for nasty, relentlessly crushing audio makes their Split EP a triumphant slab of sludge and noise rock.

(Written by Shastabeast)

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