Labels: Black Reaper – Dry Cough – Medusa Crush – Tadpole
Review by: Alex Deller
Despite thinking their demo was pretty darn worthy, I haven’t heard Sea Bastard since 2011. This, despite a number of London gigs and a couple of hefty releases. In the time since we last parted, things appear to have changed. The heavy quotient has been substantially upped, their expansive elements drawn out, and, on the 20-minute track here at least, the steady flow of their lugubrious riffing has been embellished with long, slow moments of atonality reminiscent of Ommadon. Californians Keeper are hewn from similarly robust stuff, schlurping their riffs up from the same glutinous tarpit and primarily distinguishable in that their singer offers not a throaty bellow of sad rage but a shrieky, phlegm-clotted gargle that’s not a million miles away from Nathan Misterek’s. This is all good, large, heavy stuff that is rather a treat to listen to. Well done, people.