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| Cover art by Damian Augustyniak |
71TONMAN are a five piece Sludge/Doom Metal outfit hailing from Wroclaw/Poland. They formed in 2011 and released their self-titled debut album Dec. 2013.
The album is kind of a concept album creating scenarios revolving around a post-apocalyptical world. It comprises of six tracks, of which the first one, the "Intro", is mainly a short narrated introduction to describe the situation, accompanied by sounds that deliver the eerie menacing atmosphere to it as well.
The second track "Bacon Bomb" is a relentlessly slow, heavy sludge monster displaying the band's personal take on the genre, which is in addition to being "fat, low and slow" - the bands own description - also very groovy, heavy like a steam roller, intense and atmospheric.
The songs are carefully constructed and each has its own dynamic character and atmosphere. "Dr Psycho" has an extra pinch of insanity which is very much carried by the vocalist's breathtakingly punchy vocals and some reverb, slightly chaotic drumming and a grand atmospheric build-up with an excellent instrumental work.
"Cyborg Jesus" (my favorite track of the album), picks up the strong atmospheric intensity, adds different facets of moods of melancholy and desolation with an extra pinch of dissonances, dirge-like melodies and again this is very much carried by the vocals.
"Face Fucking Machine" is a classic stoner rock style booze fueled bluesy steam roller and shows a brilliant work of bass and drums.
The title song "71Tonman" at the end of the album and its longest track (12:14) pretty well sums up what the whole album is about. This one is full of all the different moods, cleverly constructed with changes of melody, tempo and rhythm thus creating a dynamic driving build-up with exciting drumming and an extremely abrupt ending that leaves you in a complete, somewhat alarming, empty deathlike stillness.
Throughout the album there's an overall atmosphere that truly captures an apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic sense, and with each song this sense increases, everything is getting just a bit more intense, just a bit heavier and there's just another little twist in this or in that direction and all these "just a bits" and "little extra pinches" of whatever, keep the album in a constant dynamic, very organic and exciting. Nothing sounds forced or overdone.
This is an absolutely stunning debut album and a complete DIY venture on top of it.