Review: Treedeon ‘New World Hoarder’
German sludge doomsters Treedeon have returned after a five-year absence to bring us New World Hoarder that’s out now through Exile On Mainstream. The band have made some interesting music in the past, mixing a thick sludge sound with some noise-rock elements as well and it would seem that events of the past few years have lain heavy upon the band.
Opener Nutcrème Superspreader is a really sinister piece of music; a fuzzed-up melody line crawls past a humming malevolence while vocalist/bassist Yvonne Duckworth howls into the void and feedback squalls in the foreground. Utterly menacing, much like the tectonic rumble of Omega Time Bomb which vibrates straight through to your bones. It reminds me of the Melvins or Big Business, a slightly off kilter approach to knuckle dragging doom of the highest order. Nasty screams accompany cavernous riffs, then that low end drags us all down to the bottom for a seasick groove. That type of groove also makes its presence felt in the title track, a surprisingly accessible number with another stellar and dynamic vocal performance.
Viking Meditation Song is nothing like Wardruna; it’s a swaggering, groaning beast, another track that has some excellent melodic interplay and occasionally gives me a little bit of Baroness in there too. There’s something a little Crowbar-esque in the swooning guitar riffs and oddly melancholic tone at times, and that roiling southern thunder rumbles straight through RhV1 and its dynamic clean/scream vocal interplay into the closer Läderlappen.
Nasty screams accompany cavernous riffs, then that low end drags us all down to the bottom for a seasick groove…
Läderlappen is apparently the Swedish for ‘The Leather Patch’, but also for ‘Batman’, and I have no idea what to do with this information so I’m passing it on. The track itself is a mighty twelve minutes, bringing in some driving, Kyussian stoner doom and adding layers of almost trance-like atmosphere. It reminds me a lot of Kylesa’s more experimental angles which you don’t see enough of in this day and age.
What Treedeon bring to the table sounds like no one else. New World Hoarder is an adventurous album of seriously heavy sludgy doom but riven throughout with weird noise-rock detours. The groove, the weight of everything is spot on but the real hook is the unexpectedness of everything else. You’re never quite sure what strange, vibrant addition to the music is going to come next, and Treedeon remain a band you need to follow. It’s sludge folks, but not quite as we know it.
Label: Exile On Mainstream Records
Band Links: Facebook | Bandcamp | Instagram
Scribed by: Sandy Williamson
