Bravewords.com > Hardwares > HAARP

New Orleans sludge nuts HAARP have flown pretty under the radar so far, but this insane release should get them some attention with sludge, doom, and NOLA-lovin' metal fans. But casual fans of DOWN (whose Phil Anselmo recorded and released this) be warned: 'Stone the Crow' this ain't. This album, the band's second, is made up of only three songs: 'Deadman/Rabbit', the album opener, is a 17-minute crushing sludge epic. And it's heavy. Like, it makes long NEUROSIS songs look like complete sit-down-to-pee post-metal rubbish. Closer 'Fox' is as chilling and moving as metal gets, which is not something that can usually be said of a sludge band. These guys take everything to the extreme, and this album embodies it all perfectly. Once upon a time, CROWBAR took sludge metal and distilled it to perfect concise, near-rock-song-structure excellence; today, Haarp are taking things the other direction, going more extreme than anyone working in remotely the same confines, but keeping the sense of desperation and intensity that the best of sludge - think EYEHATEGOD - has to offer.

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HAARP

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