Labels: Brilliant Emperor
Review by: Alex Deller
Hard to reconcile the ugly savagery of this record with the fact that the band are named after a dumpy and amiable Pokémon but, hey, I guess I’ll eventually get over it. Snorlax hail from Australia and play ambitious filth that merges grind, death and black metal so seamlessly that it’s nigh-on impossible to unpick. Guttural exhortations ooze across sweeping, expansive tremolo pickings, and the ravening icy clangour is frequently upended by painful, busted-cartilage crunches and glottal, sewer-dwelling chugs. If I was finding fault I’d say that maybe the production is a touch smooth at the edges for music so furious and jagged, but at the same time I don’t know whether I’d quite be able to handle it if ‘II’ employed a full-on ‘Battles In The North’ aesthetic.