Nether Regions

Thanks to the progressive tendencies of acts such as Mastodon, High On Fire, Baroness and so forth, there isn't much breathing room for newer doom-influenced, sludge-bathed metal bands. They can either struggle to infuse oddities into their craft or take the well-beaten road in hopes that one or two riffs grab listeners by the short and curlies. Wisely following the latter approach, Oregon's Nether Regions pull heavily from the aforementioned acts, with touches of other stalwarts, including YOB, Kylesa and the usual gang of idiots. Suffice it to say that while there are good and bad aspects of a path with little resistance, in the case of Into The Breach, the arguments on both sides are pretty even. While thick and aggressive in their attack, none of these eight tunes are entirely original or attention demanding. Still, their slow, monolithic dirge and dirty vocals surrounding epic structures offer the Masto-ness fiends something to chew on, provided they can be prodded into caring. Passable but not entirely memorable, Into The Breach is solid enough to produce a diversion from the genre leaders, on occasion, but won't exactly fashion legions of diehards.