Listening to Texas' drone/doom outfit CRAWL's "This Sad Cadav'r" is like standing in front of an oncoming tidalwave as it smashes into you full-throttle with the force of one thousand tons of bludgeoning death. Black Bow Records' re-release of this 30 minute opus is a must for listeners of everything dreary and monolithic, monstrous and despairing.
After around four and a half minutes of ambient wanderings, first track 'I' bleeds into a shallow, sweltering ambivalence of droning guitars, doom-laden drums and screeching vocals buried behind a wall of hopeless sound. Fifteen minutes of this aural bombardment indicates a band comfortable and confidant within their genre, standing above us looking down at us peons below. The soundscapes filtered throughout are unsettling at times as they slither between onerous guitars and snail-crawling rhythms. Second track aptly titled 'II' crunches its way through anguished vocals and drowning, doom-filled sonic delivery. While some doom or drone albums plod along with experimental ambivalence, CRAWL proudly hold their style of metal in this genre high. What you want is exactly what you get with "This Sad Cadav'r". Spoken vocals at the beginning of 'III' leads into a godlike plethora of more misery and chaos than puny mortals could ever handle. And thank fuck for that. I don't want an inconsistent amalgamation of weak tracks on any album. CRAWL have given us the gift of total disaster of a world in the midst of destruction. And that's really all I ever ask for in this genre.
