Thinning the Herd in a social media post not so long ago referred to their style as “lawnmower metal.” It was a joke, but clearly the New York band is enjoying the upstate life and all the richness not-the-city has to offer as they inch toward the release of their new album, Cull, sometime this year. “Sarcophagus Dust” is the follow-up single to “Trampled by Deer” (video posted here), which was posted in February, and if it’s a case of the band putting out songs as they’re finished, building the full-length as they go, well, they’d hardly be the first. It’s 2024. What the hell even is an album, anyway?

They’ve teased a few other songs from Cull to come as well — the third single is apparently called “Harley Davidson”; I haven’t heard it yet — but the snarl and swagger of “Sarcophagus Dust” speak for themselves, with a professed lack of sleep and the roll of Gavin Spielman‘s riff punctuated by Rob Sefcik‘s crash, lo fi in the production but clear enough to get their point across to be sure. It doesn’t sound like a lawnmower, but it does layer in a noisy lead to coincide with the downer bounce of its finish before fading out. There’s no pretense, no proggy indulgences to be made, nothing overly showy about it except maybe in the soloing where it should be, and its attitude is less about itself than the song but still heavy in mood. It’ll make sense when you hear it, and “Sarcophagus Dust” makes a solid teaser for the record as well since it’s under four minutes long.

I haven’t seen an exact release date for Cull yet, but that’s life, and I honestly don’t think Thinning the Herd need to or even really should be working to anyone’s schedule other than their own. Whenever it arrives, Cull will be the band’s first album in more than a decade, in addition to the first with the Spielman/Sefcik configuration, and as both of the to-date songs they’ve dropped from it hint, it’s gonna be a rocker. So much the better.

Enjoy:

Thinning the Herd, “Sarcophagus Dust” video premiere

“Sarcophagus Dust is the second single off the upcoming album “Cull” by New York’s own Thinning the Herd. TTH’s brand of heavy blues is often described as Doom, Sludge or Grunge and are often compared to Black Sabbath. TTH’s style incorporates elements of early NY/HC, traditional Blues and Stoner Rock.

Stay tuned for the next single entitles “Harley-Davidson” out at the end of June, marking the third single off of the antic aped album “Cull.

Video by Bert Crosby

Thinning the Herd are:
Gavin Spielman on Guitar and Vocals.
Rob Sefcik – Drums

Thinning the Herd, “Trampled by Deer” official video

Thinning the Herd on Facebook

Thinning the Herd on Instagram

Thinning the Herd on Bandcamp

Thinning the Herd website

Tags: Cull, New York, Thinning the Herd, Thinning the Herd Cull, Unsigned bands

This entry was posted on Friday, June 14th, 2024 at 8:26 am and is filed under Bootleg Theater. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.