Portland, Oregon harbours a monster with this band who were initially pestered by Red Fang to tour with them and for a debut effort, what a result…this is hugely gratifying. The sound is low end sludge, mixed with doom and a touch of groove, so you can easily compare their music to a hybrid of High On Fire, Lair of the Minotaur and Kylesa.
The guitar tone is perfect, it’s very precise with a bottom end gnarl and the vocal delivery is a well-oiled intense experience in its own right. Starting with ‘In A Frightful State of Gnawed Dismemberment’ you get a real sense of what is coming with ‘Summon the Faithless’, I certainly gain a rush of excitement from this resultant aggressive ball breaker and when Lord Dying reiterate their point of view with some groove, you may also be nodding your head in appreciation. One thing that stands out for me is the drum work. This is far from the usual boom-bash simple keep to the time beat, throughout the release and on tracks like the title one, the fills and patterns are varied, thoughtful and make the drums much more noticeable on this record and pivotal to the arrangements.
‘Perverse Osmosis’ continues in Lord Dying’s own oblique nasty style and oozes tight guitar work, something that is nice to hear in this genre. Rather than wallowing on one riff or arrangement, you hear Lord Dying pushing the boundaries much further, their music may not be as intricate to those of guitar virtuoso standards, but these arrangements possess real embodiment. The album art represents a sinister vision, a deadly introduction to a collection of songs that is really infectious. This album has received a lot of plays and quite easily sits up there with one of the greatest albums on offer in this field this year.
If you want doom and sludge handled in a truly remarkable manner, then ‘Summon the Faithless’ is essential. It ticks all the boxes and batters your bass settings on whatever sound system you care to use for your audible pleasure and thus travels very well. I do hope their extensive live work extends to these shores at some point, this music needs to be heard in a loud heavy live environment.
(8.5/10 Paul Maddison)
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