Lords of Bukkake: Fuel for Misanthropy
An album on which everything right down to the artwork reeks of desolation and loneliness, the self-titled debut from Barcelona‘s Lords of Bukkake (Odio Sonoro/Gaia Records) is the ideal companion for those evenings when, left to your own devices in a world of infinite possibilities, you choose to sit around in your underwear, drink by yourself and hate at a major league level. Full of visceral anger directed whichever way the speakers are facing, it is slicing and grating, painful, hurtful doom lashing out irredeemable remorse and churning violence. It is the kind of music that makes you feel like there are bugs crawling on you.
Lords of Bukkake opens with its longest track, “Black Lung” — by all accounts an affliction with which bassist/vocalist Toni L?pez is familiar. His biting rasp reminds of Alan Dubin fronting a less minimalist Khanate, while the occasional drawling stoner rock solo from guitarist Jaume L. Pantale?n (also of Cuzo) sets Lords of Bukkake apart from those drone magnates. Still, at 18:47, “Black Lung” is a fierce slab of darkened sludge, chopping up the corpse of a desperate riff and leaving the body up in the Torre de Collserola for the tourists to find.
The shorter “No Excuses” — unfortunately not an Alice in Chains cover — only checks in at 5:45 (radio hit!) but will nonetheless get a rise out of anyone who’s heard Thou and thought, “Gee, this could be angrier.” “Applicants” is the highlight of the full-length, at a reasonable 15:08 with a two-plus minute intro over which I’d have sworn Neil Fallon was going to start singing about his 1973 Dodge Swinger. Just before the 13-minute mark, the song makes a turn into the fastest stoner groove of the record, showing there’s more to Lords of Bukkake than creeping tempos and high-mixed crashes from drummer Sergio Linares.
Right down to the sudden end of “Devil’s Rain” (14:01 for anyone keeping up), what’s central to understanding Lords of Bukkake is the following two words: “unrelenting” and “misery.” The song continues the established pattern of splatter doom and smokes pentagrams so thick they stick to the ceiling. Topped with another pulled-string lead from Pantale?n, it hammers in the already well-established point that if there’s one thing Lords of Bukkake don’t give, it’s a fuck.
Though their name might lead you to think you’re getting pornogrind, don’t be fooled. Lords of Bukkake mince your sense of decency with a sedated bpm count and razor-sharp take on hateful sludge.
Tags: Gaia Records, Lords of Bukkake, Odio Sonoro, Sludge, Spain
