Album Review: Ether – There is Nothing Left for Me Here (Dead Truth Recordings)

The second album, There is Nothing Left For Me Here from sludge maestros, Ether will be released on July 7th 2017 on CD, cassette, vinyl and digital formats via Dead Truth Recordings.

The wave of noise that comes crashing down within the first few seconds of For Every Nail, A Noose doesn’t quite prepare you for the sludgy heaviness that follows. Sharing a whole lot in common with the likes of Crowbar but with a more haunting & melodic edge. There is Nothing Left For Me Here is a surprising record in that it combines a while host of different sounds while staying true to its swampy NOLA roots.

Crushingly heavy but with some really darkened riffs they have an air of the Sabbath about them too.

After the opening epic, Ether go for a shorter & aggressive stance on We Are the Empty Vessel Where Life Used To Grow. It’s still got that melodic groove that marks the band out as different but has way more interest in pummelling your ears as hard as possible.

Inextricably Bound By the Absence of a Ring Finger being acoustic guitar driven & using classic instruments (violin) is a bit of a change in direction. It’s a bit flat coming only a few songs in but it does continue nicely into No Gods, All Masters. A song that makes great use of the violin creating a haunting piece of music. That is until it erupts dropping some furious hooks & riffs.

Ether can’t be knocked for experimenting, they may be a sludge band at heart but the variety in their sound is simply stunning.

The second half of the 10 track album continues with the sombre riffs. Lots of melody mixed with blasts of dirty heavy metal & sorrowful vocals. The gargling style vocals & rhythmic beat of Coke Rope, the slow & quiet build up towards the hard-hitting metal of Ava Maria of the Lice, of the Snakes, of the Worms brings back the furious sounding speed & sludgy goodness.

Being the final track it ends things on serious high. A really ear-pleasing finish that completes an album which will stand as one of the finest sludge metal releases this year.

Ether – There is Nothing Left for Me Here Full Track Listing:

1. Dearest The Shadows
2. For Every Nail, a Noose
3. We Are the Empty Vessel Where Life Used to Grow
4. Inextricably Bound By the Absence of a Ring Finger
5. No Gods, All Masters
6. The Burden of Trust
7. Coke Rope
8. Ava Maria of the Lice, of the Snakes, of the Worms
9. The Burden of Hope
10. Fleas of a Rat

You can check out Ava Maria of the Lice, of the Snakes, of the Worms now over on Bandcamp.