The UK’s sludge/stoner scene is experiencing a real renaissance at the moment, with spectacular bands up and down the country drowning audiences with crashing waves of fuzz-drenched riffs and thunderous bellows. From Wigan’s psychedelic monsters Boss Keloid to Kingston Upon Hull’s ferocious Battalions, via the swarming heaviness of Grimsby’s Church Of Lies, it’s a good time to be a fan of groove-riddled metal. One of the scene’s leading lights since their formation in Nottingham back in 2008 is Widows, a four piece who specialise in spewing out the kind of infectious carnage you might expect if Down and Clutch drank too many bottles of Jack Daniel’s and got freaky in the back of a tour bus. Five years on from their debut album ‘Death Valley Duchess’, the band are back with their sophomore effort ‘Oh Deer God’, released through UMC records.
From the first seconds of the opening title track, it’s very clear that ‘Oh Deer God’ is not an album for the weak willed – riotous riffs blast from the speakers with all the subtlety of a knife fight at a black-tie dinner, immediately knocking your consciousness into a parallel universe where all of the buildings have been replaced by giant towering stacks of Orange amplifiers cranked to eleven. Taking its name from a long-held theory about the hidden meaning behind the logo for noxious black goo merchants Jägermeister, the song itself is, fittingly enough, an ode to the destructive yet inescapable lure of a night on the sauce. Intoxication of some form or another is a theme heavy within the band’s lyrics, and it suits their vicious musical barrage just perfectly. What separates Widows from many of their contemporaries though is the velocity and energy in their music – where most bands associated with stoner or sludge tend to happily stomp along at a mid-pace, these guys aren’t afraid to hit the accelerator and deliver high-octane charges of noise that could rattle the fillings from your teeth. A perfect example of this is second track ‘Caffeine And Hatred’, a surging attack that borders on full-throttle thrash and lasts a little over a minute.
The band’s trademark boogie is back in full force on ‘Heresy And Venom’, James Kidd’s bluesy wailing perfectly complementing the gravel-throated roar of vocalist Adam Jolliffe. Just when you think Widows are settling into their groove though, the song switches gears about halfway through and shows yet another side of the band’s sound, this one more in line with the raw fury of High On Fire or ‘Remission’-era Mastodon. The riffing here is incendiary, given extra punch by the gut-churning bass of resident four stringer Phil, not to mention the absolute powerhouse drum performance of ‘Ze Big’. Throughout the record the band zig-zag from more traditionally ‘stoner’ moments like former single ‘Blue Tina’ to ‘Ride To The Realm Of Coitus’, a raging anthem that in parts resembles ‘Uprising’-era Entombed in its ability to swing from caustic rock and roll to heavy, stomach-punching dirges.
The record shudders to a close with the Kyuss-esque ‘Germanium Buzz’, a track that opens with a sweeping, desert rock vibe before dropping out into a full-blown Big Muff sandstorm. It features some of the album’s biggest and most crushing riffs, particularly its final bars that repeat the same hypnotic barrage over and over before abruptly cutting off, leaving only a void of silence. The song is a high point on a record that’s clearly having too much fun with itself to bother with any lows. ‘Oh Deer God’ is a perfect example of the excellent work coming out of our fair island’s heavy music community – it’s ballsy, catchy, never stagnates or allows itself to become boring, and most importantly, it fucking rips. Memorise the album’s title, because you’ll find yourself wanting to repeat it out loud over and over again whilst you listen.
JAMES LEE