Album Review: Onhou – Endlings (Lay Bare Recordings)

Onhou was founded in 2016 and consists of previous and current of Killteam, Lords of Gravity, Wolvon, Grinding Halt and Ortega. Rooted in Groningen, Onhou embodies their northern heritage by mixing desolate sludgy doom riffs with miserable post-metal atmospheres, embracing the sinister history of the soil that made them.

Their new album ‘Endling’ will be released on November 30th 2019 via Lay Bare Recordings.

It might only be three tracks long but these are three tomes that are weightier then a mountain being dropped on your head. Each one, a momentously heavy effort that basks in the filth of sludge and doom while also offering more forgiving moments of atmosphere. It’s as uncomfortable as it is wondrous, the constant slipping and sliding between tempos and rhythm is exceptionally clever.

Dire is over 17 minutes long and drips in darkness, the atmospheric elements sitting prettily in the background. All while the doomy sludge consumes with powerful riffs and huge percussion. To say that it is a momentous track is an understatement, it is impossibly heavy and so damn effective.

The very possibility of your brain being turned to mush and dribbling out your ears is a risk with this track. Although it’s not as though the following two tracks are any kind of relief. That comes from the post-melodious moments, those that see the heavier music drop away exposing a calmer and refined Onhou.

While not as long as Dire, March Retreat and Silence are both over 10 minutes long each. The former has an eerie and haunting rhythm that delves into the doom with care but in an uncompromising way. The latter is somehow even heavier than what has already come. The fierceness of that offset by the slow crawl of the tempo. Uncomfortable, harsh and unforgiving but still delectably appealing.

Onhou – Endlings Full Track Listing:

1. Dire
2. March Retreat
3. Silence

Links

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