Best of 2011 - Volume 7 - Rwake - Rest

From: USA
Year: 2011
Genre: Sludge, Doom, Psychedelic

In my opinion, Rwake just don’t get the attention and praise they deserve, because in the land of doom and sludge there just aren’t many bands as creative and interesting as they are. Hailing from Little Rock, Arkansas, Rwake have been dishing out their brand of psychedelic sludge for 14 years and it just keeps getting better. From the beginning of track one you know you’re in for a psychedelic head fuck, a simple looped guitar melody, accented by a slide guitar, weaves its way into a celestial female voice while a flute adds a subtle consonance. Nothing prepares you for the monolithic doom and shredding that follows, unless you’re familiar with their past body of work, of course. Obviously I’m not gonna go through the whole album but the weirdness doesn’t stop there. They employ other unconventional instrumentation throughout the album like marimba, mandolin, moog and synth driven drone/noisescapes. The use of samples and unusual recording techniques further heightens the sense of surrealism. As always the guitar work is stellar, from the beautiful acoustic passages to the soul stirring solos to the soul crushing leaden riffs. But underneath all of this is a southern sludge band battling its demons within a haze of drug induced euphoric nightmare. It’s a lashing out like all the best metal is, confronting the evils within themselves and without, but never giving an inch of compromise. Buy it here.