Black Tusk

Indicating the chance of greater dollars to be made from sludge music now versus three years ago, this reissue of a not-too-far-past release from Black Tusk shows a band in transition... well, not really. Listen to their latest, Taste of Sin; they've had their thing worked out for a while. Thanks to hefty co-signs via the now instantly recognizable artwork of Baroness's John Baizley, as well as the crusty but thorough production of Kylesa's Phillip Cope, this band have received the full-on Southern sludge treatment and will likely find it hard to escape comparisons to their fellow Georgians, so why bother? Passage Through Purgatory is a gritty combo of the aforementioned stalwarts' riff-driven, groove-based greatness alongside crossover-era C.O.C. thrash vitriol and some of the crawling chaos of High on Fire. The simplicity of Tusk's formula is enticing, even demonstrating a touch of classic metal abandon sadly absent in their big brother bands' output.