Northless

When dealing with a band like Milwaukee’s premier sludge-metal outfit Northless, it’s best to get a few obvious adjectives out of the way: pummeling, bruising, crushing, grueling, devastating. Though the group has seen a constantly revolving lineup since forming in 2007, its current four-piece iteration seems to have coalesced into a particularly fearsome powerhouse, as evidenced by 2011’s Clandestine Abuse. Expertly produced by Howl Street Recordings’ Shane Hochstetler, it’s an album so overblown, so dense, and so thick with noise that it’s a wonder it can be sussed out by human ears. Guitars violently riff, vocals growl forth from the din, and drums explode and crumble away into static. Claiming the album could peel the paint off walls does it a great disservice—this shit could peel the primer.

Updated 03/20/2012