Black Tusk
Tend No Wounds

Anything you like about these bands you will find it inside “Tend No Wounds”. In my mind I call this EP “Kylesa: The next generation” as the similarity with their sound is bigger than any of the other bands. That applies for the sound setting and the vocals as well. Watch it though, I’m not saying they are copy cats, Black Tusk belong to the same genre as Kylesa, so it’s only natural that they share a same sound and vocal style.

There is that dark melancholy lurking in every beginning of each song (listen to that sweet violin merging with the haunting bass notes in “The weak and the wise”), followed by fierce outbursts of energy and anger, all powered by Fidler’s mean guitar work and the absolutely stunning and passionate vocal performances of all three members. Eerie lead guitar riffs cut through the swampy rhythm riffs to mess with your mind. This is a dark and spiteful album, without being depressive or miserable though. It gives this sensation of constructive hate, a power that needs to be unleashed unto the world otherwise it would consume itself (pretty much what happens in the rest of “The Weak And The Wise” and all the other tracks of course). I believe that “Truth Untold” or “In Days of Woe” make a pretty good example of my writings!

And what better way to unleash this power than an exceptional utilization of the groove legacy of some proto sludge bands like Buzzoven, Eyehategod or Acid Bath? You’ll listen to many riffs that these bands would be proud to have written themselves. Listen to that absolute beast of a song “Cold Embrace”, feel the groove and the bouncing of the bass mixing with the drums and producing one of the finest sound results I have ever heard. So fresh, so strong and arousing that if you don’t start headbanging the moment you hear it there is definitely something wrong with your hearing. Basically this is an accurate description for the album in general. “Tend No Wounds” is an album that lets you starving for more, more of its devastating sound and powerful emotion and I hope that Black Tusk will soon return with a release that contains more than 6 songs, perhaps to dethrone the current kings of this genre.