LEECHMILK - STARVATION OF LOCUSTS (2000)

Buried Treasure Alert!

Atlanta, Georgia's LEECHMILK never made much of a mark on the "international sludge scene" (whatever that is), but their particular brand of doom-laden, Southern-fried, sample-heavy Eyehategod-meets-Iron Monkey-meets-Boulder misanthropy was some of the highest-quality shit to surface in that musical Dead Zone known as the late-90's-to-early-oughts, and Starvation of Locusts surpasses just about anything that like-minded bands were doing at the time. It's a hate-filled, drug-fueled monster of an album, and avoids the common pratfall of most masturbatory "doom/sludge metal" by keeping song lengths within the two-and-a-half-to-five-minute zone (except for the seven-minute album closer "Descending", which is largely composed of experimental/repetitive noise sampling). There is plenty to be fond of here, but if I had to narrow it down, I'd say the main selling points for me are the creepy-as-fuck opening sample (lifted from THX 1138--see this post on Ojorojo for another band that used this clip well), the over-the-top screechy vocals, the millipedal-caveman drumming, and the fact that this album contains the unimaginably-brilliant song title "Whiskey Nipple". This shit is just fucking epic, crushing, wholly bleak and devoid of any hope whatsoever. It makes me nostalgic for my early 20's.

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