Northless

While Milwaukee, WI's Northless prefer the tones and textures of sludge metal, the weight of all that toxicity can't quite smother the power and aggression that also define their second full-length, World Keeps Sinking. Relentlessly, viciously negative, the record has an inexorably stomping pace, as though grinding out any wisp of light beneath its boots. Non-linear in structure, without being unnecessarily avant-garde, World Keeps Sinking is stylistically varied, seeking to create a mood or tone rather than constructing a narrative. Borrowing styles and flourishes from sludge, prog, stoner and doom, Northless are more concerned with finding the right musical texture to express each specific shade of anguish than aesthetic unity. There's little gentleness, although (always bloodied) occasional moments are palpable in "Communion" and "Withered and Escape." There is no doubt that World Keeps Sinking is a deep, gutting act of catharsis.