Aberrant Kingdom – AK
Sure, as bloggers, we’re supposed to be the wordsmiths. But Pittsburgh-adjacent-based stoner sludge act Aberrant Kingdom seem to have hit the nail on the head: “We play loud, heavy, strange songs in sweaty rooms.” One listen through their latest album, the 10-song AK (ostensibly, short for Aberrant Kingdom) and you’ll see what they mean… This hard hitting trio of James May (guitar/vocals), Ian Tepper (drums), and Pat Herron (bass) craft the kind of music that seems tailor-made for sweaty basement venues and sweltering attic shows. Falling somewhere on an intangible spectrum between Black Sabbath, early Nirvana, and Primus, AK is full of quirky compositions delivered through a prog-rock lens with a dash of that wild, Les Claypool energy… And of course soaked in a grunged-out, Big Muff (TM) style fuzz. The album opens with an eerie whirring of feedback as Herron starts hammering out a sludgy bass line. Soon the[...]