Dread Spire - Endless Empire EP

 

 

Dread Spire - Endless Empire EP
Self-released - July 2023
Sludge, Doom, Instrumental
Rated: ****

One of the heaviest EPs yet this year comes from an instrumental two-man unit with a heft that belies their numbers. Davis, California's Dread Spire lay down thick, grimy sludge that dense by even genre standards, quaking and rumbling with a physical weight that's conjured from an imposing effects setup for vocalist Richie's bass guitar, accompanied by an onslaught of drumming from Erol behind the kit. "Endless Empire" is their debut EP, but the musicianship and sonic largesse that's contained within certainly doesn't sound like a first effort. Across four tracks of doomed sludge, the duo unleash an avalanche of riffs and drums, with a burly but technical delivery that crushes and grooves without letup. The opening title track is case in point, a swirling vortex of drum work alongside the bass's heaving rhythm, spiced with an especially sharp, razor wire lick that cuts through the slabs of noise. A particular highlight of the EP comes in the clattering, almost ritualistic percussion in the latter half of "Inferno", across which squeals of feedback provide a sadistic respite from the track's careening swing. Dread Spire take their foot a bit off the aggro pedal in the second half of the album, delivering a slightly slower and doomier crush in "Green Mist" and the gothic-tinged keys of "Serpent King", though the frenetic riffage always lurks close by. "Endless Empire" is a massive debut in both sound and accomplishment, a statement of punishing purpose by Dread Spire as they bulldoze their way into the sludge scene with ease.

(Written by Kyle SB / Shastabeast)

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