Warcrab are a band operating in a space somewhere between Groovy Death Metal and Heavy Sludge, a mixture surprisingly vicious for something I could probably serve up to metal boomers without much objection. On The Howling Silence the band weighs their sound to be more Sludge heavy than on their last, where they focused on aggression and the more Death Metal oriented aspects of their style. Their proclaimed goal is to “lay down fuzz-wrapped concrete slabs of riffs one after the other”. The material seems indeed more streamlined and more heavily focused on the exploration of a singular, or at least related, idea. Just as the band describes, there is a Crust Punk edge to the material, particularly recalling slower acts like mid-career Amebix, where atmosphere also played a heavy part. The style on The Howling Silence is definitely very easy to listen to. The material grooves and very little about it is inoffensive. The issue is that, while there are few lows, there are equally few highs and the album is at constant threat to become just something that is on in the background while my mind wanders or while I do other things.
As so often, this is a question of talent and craft versus inspiration. While I find that the talent and craftsmanship are there – the album is well written and cohesive and clearly achieves what it aims for – Warcrab give very little that similar acts could not. The supply of sludgy, quasi-Death ‘n Roll is high and I am sure the demand is too, considering how popular the band seems to be in those circles. Giving people what they want is a recipe for stable success, at least, but the band does show hints of being capable of more. Third track “Black Serpent Coils” sticks out positively, with its funky, wah-driven intro and purposeful syncopation and general more drive and vitriol than the rest of the album. In a way, the band’s competency and high level of craft seems detrimental here, as the material is strangely restricted in how tight and clean it is. When I think of classic Death ‘n Roll – Entombed’s Wolverine Blues or the Austrian perversions of Pungent Stench – there is a looseness to the material, a wild and untamed quality that is hard to come by nowadays. Knowing that a band like Autopsy, with Chris Reifert‘s vile, vomitous rasps, is still kicking around doesn´t make me thrilled about the rather monotone vocal performance either. Additionally, the likely professional opinion for an album by a band like this is that it has to end on a high note, and they do oblige. Warcrab‘s attempt at this are two tracks approaching nine and eleven minutes, respectively. Both “As the Mourners Turn Away” and the title track are very sparse, draggy affairs that feel like they should build to something, but end up spinning their wheels instead. While I could forgive the by-the-numbers approach elsewhere, the overlong closer is something I am becoming increasingly sceptical of, and for me, the definitive reason why The Howling Silence doesn´t land.
