Groak – Masticator EP
Slow and sludgy
Groak’s debut Masticator EP was released digitally on their Bandcamp page in September 2015. Since then, the band has received positive feedback from their local scene, largely due to the fact that they feature former members of everyone’s favorite powerviolence bands like Suffering Mind and The Day Man Lost.
Unlike the fast and relentless blast beats of the bands mentioned above, Groak’s music is slow and sludgy. The four tracks are 25 minutes long in total and will remind you of any band with a low tuned, heavy and distorted bass/guitar that you might appreciate.
Listening to these songs I was eagerly waiting for the moment when the depressing sludge beats and haltered stoner riffs would be interrupted by some insane outbursts of blast beats and screaming fury, too bad that never really happens with the exception of some faster parts in the opening track “Trichobezoar” which is my favorite on the record. Still, it’s a good release from a band that maintains a solid DIY attitude and does a lot for their local hardcore/sludge/powerviolence scene in Leeds.
Masticator EP has been released on cassette in a limited edition of 50 copies on the FxHxExD label, and their split 7-imch EP with local grinders Lugubrious Children is out now on Mind Reaper Collective, Rad Nauseam and Hackebeil Records.
