Album Review: Battalions – King of a Dead World (APF Records)

Carl Fisher 2 min read

UK sludge metal juggernaut Battalions are set to return with their new album ‘King of a Dead World’ on the 21st of October, 2022 via APF Records.

It feels like forever since Battalions graced our ears with new music but all good things come to those who wait and finally, we have the follow-up to 2018’s excellent album, Forever Marching Backwards.

So, what does Battalions in 2022 sound like and what does King of a Dead World offer? The answer applies to both. Heavy, sludgy, dirty and intense. Battalions are back and back with a bang.

Opening the new record with an instant hit of head-banging adrenaline, Green Boots is a statement making start. The meaty groove of the guitars, the pounding drumbeats and roaring vocals showing that Battalions are just as aggressively heavy as always. Something they double down on with the punchy pace increase of Coughing Nails and the stompy, ferocious groove of Diagnosis Fucked. Any doubts about what this band could deliver in 2022 are completely blown away with the first few tracks.

 

 

Things are just getting better with Bones to Dust as Battalions really let the riffs fly and alternate between elaborate, slower groove and faster bouts of animalistic heaviness. A track that soars and dives in heart-pounding fashion.

With No Safe Place, Battalions then remind us just why their brand of metallic-sludge is so highly regarded. The vocals hitting screeching highs. Before Parasite keeps things short, bristling with intensity and sounding particularly filthy. Battalions not just at their meanest sounding, but at their most venomous.

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It’s all over so quickly. The impact of the penultimate groover and frantic shaker, Light A Fire and the sludgy monstrousness of the title track leaving the mind dazed and confused. The only cure is to press play and start the album all over again. A really appealing prospect as Battalions have gone the route of ‘all killer and no filler’ here. King of a Dead World is the sound of a band delivering the best they have and it’s really something special.

Battalions – King of a Dead World Full Track Listing:

1. Green Boots
2. Coughing Nails
3. Diagnosis Fucked
4. Bones to Dust
5. No Safe Place
6. Parasite
7. Light A Fire
8. King of Dead World




Links

Bandcamp | Facebook | Twitter | APF Records

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Battalions - King of a Dead World (APF Records)
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