lista zespołów Atmospheric Doom FDK Borderline

Czech sludge? Ever heard about it? I haven´t and I am Czech for something over 22 years. Now here comes something interesting that claims to be in this genre. One wouldn´t expect too much before hearing it. To make a good sludge that really forces itself upon you, you need a good, or unique sound, or both at the same time (the best variant obviously) and Czech recording studios usually don´t provide such a necessary quality.

But in the case of FDK, surprisingly, the sound is, possibly, the strongest part of the record. Not that the other is bad on the contrary. It has all the cool attributes that you would seek in cool sludging fun, the forceful massive parts, the melancholy guitar pickings, the mixture of those two, the…, well that’s basically all you need for sludge right. But without the sound of the guitars that is somewhere between scream and doom metal, that makes the figures so intense, or thoughtfull, or both, it would just fall into the millions of “nice but I won´t listen to it again” sludge projects, that end somewhere in dusty shelves. But FDK don´t fall anywhere and for that I am glad.

They don´t bet on any primitivistic dirtiness with ultraslow guitars to wear your soul out. Instead they opt for a lighter, melancholic, emotive scales, here enjoying post-rocky influences, there a bit of scream desperation, but still firmly rooted in sludge marshes. It reminds me of the recently reviewed Vanessa Van Basten, crystal clear sound, often some guitar pickings in the background, though a bit more heavy.

Won´t really try for anything more, as I would only fall into the cliché metaphors in which I always fall when reviewing this kind of music. Not overtly original, but heartfelt, well composed and with perfect production. Won´t find any better in this genre in Czech Republic I dare say.

Kotek / www.marastmuzic.com /