audiObelisk: Rue Premiere “Brown” From New Album Thorns
At first glance, you might be surprised to find that Thorns — the new album on Shifty Records from Ohioan sludge metal mainstays Rue — clocks in at 13 tracks/64 minutes. Seems like a lot. But when you consider it’s been eight years since their self-titled full-length debut, and that even that was only 29 minutes, it’s easy to think maybe the four-piece has something to get off their chest. It’s like they’ve been saving up on vitriol this whole time.
Rue are traditional only in construction. The band is a traditional single-guitar four-piece with standalone vocals in the form of Jeff Fahl, whose grunts, growls and screams underscore the pulsating heaviness coming from the other three members — guitarist Mike Burns, bassist Mike Faucher and drummer Greg Cook. Sonically, they’re more bent on blending hardcore, heavy rock, doom and sludge than adhering to any single tradition, and on Thorns, the resultant brew isn’t just aggressive; it’s aggressively aggressive.
The formidable output of Ohio sludge over the last decade (discussed here as recently as yesterday) has been made possible thanks in part to Rue‘s influence, and Thorns proves their time hasn’t been misspent. I was lucky enough to get permission to stream the track “Brown” from the album — the opener, following the introductory title-track — which you’ll find on the player below.
Please enjoy:
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Thorns will be available on Shifty Records on Nov. 15, 2011. For more info, hit up the label’s website or find the band on Thee Facebooks here. To celebrate the release, Rue will be playing Saturday, Nov. 12, at The Outpost Concert Club in Kent, Ohio, with Chapstik, The Unclean and Breakneck Creek. Check out the venue’s page here.
Tags: Akron, Ohio, Rue, Shifty Records