DRORE – TAPEONE (2016)
Extraordinarily crude sludge headaches from Oxford’s newest, Drore. Their first demo (which sold out way too fast…) is a filthy disharmonic sandpit of deliberate mishits and bellicose riffing that opens with the literal sound of pissing before proceeding into a savage musical portrayal of passing agonising kidney stones. The four songs are crammed with loose strung buzzsaw riffs, each one a composite of multiple quarreling notes that ooze unease, and the raw vocals are overflowing with despondency. There’s a musty metallic taste that brings to mind Lich, an angular darkness that relates well to Ghold’s PYR, and during the most terrifying passages, Drore sound like Deathspell Omega’s punk side project. It’s obscene, obscure and incompatibly brutal, and one of the most crucial demos to get to grips with this year.