Originally written by Chris Redar
Oftentimes, details are the difference between a sale and a bust. If a consumer is shopping for a car, odds are they know what they want in terms of style and gas mileage, and they know what they’ll be using the vehicle for. What’s going to make or break the transaction then? Optional 9-speaker sound systems? A fancy moon roof? Floor-mounted missile launchers? It’s things like these that change the mindset from ‘yes, this’ll do’ to ‘FUCK YEAH, FLOOR MOUNTED MISSILE LAUNCHER!!!’. In listening to Deluge, the debut full-length debut from Ireland’s Slidhr, there are a several nice options included in the package, though it straddles the line between must-listen and background noise in more than a couple of instances.
At its core, Deluge is black metal, and it is black metal to the core. Opener ‘Wielding Daggers’ has a par-for-the-course, though effective, keyboard intro that gives way to a classic stutter-blast. There is a pattern presented on this one, and you’d do well to get used to it, because you’ll hear it a LOT. It’s not exactly a deal-breaker, however. It just means you are listening to 10 songs here as opposed to an album. And a few of these songs are just stunning- ‘Death of the Second Sun’, the clear front-runner for the Best Track award, has a rhythm section that sucks you in like quicksand and doesn’t let go. There are some clean vocals on this one, and they absolutely serve their purpose atmospherically, as does the outstanding riff work. This is a completely realized musical vision, as is the thunder-on-wax funeral dirge ‘Rejoin the Dirt’.
Unfortunately, not everything works as well in other sections. The aforementioned clean singing? It sounds so ridiculous on ‘Hex’ that it’s embarrassing to hear. Let’s leave the ‘whoa’ing to Pennywise in the future, Mr. Deegan. And the whole thing is very slick, with the drums so far in the back of the mix that a lot of emphasis is just lost. Which is really a shame- if things were a little nastier on the production end, this album could have been the flood-induced landslide the title promises. It’s still brutish, but it’s swinging regular human fists when it could be swinging giant fists made of hammers.
The other huge element missing is variety. Minus the exceptions listed earlier and tough as leather closer ‘Rays Like Blades’, there is little to be had in terms of S-curves on this path. It’s not that any particular song is formulaic, but the same elements are used to construct them, just in different sequences.
Potential is the word that keeps coming to mind. The ability is here in abundance, and the appreciation and understanding of the craft is clear. And while this is a solid, consistent and mostly enjoyable collection of songs, the potential was also there for this to be a great album. Considering the miscues and the ho-hum production, however, this is still a solid ride, as long as you don’t mind forgoing luxuries like air conditioning and making a pit stop or two along the very straight road you’re about to travel.
