Hesper Payne - The Strange Tale Of Samuel Gonzalez

Born out of a rather innovative competition for fans, the new Hesper Payne EP takes its title from the winner, crafting a twisted Lovecraftian story from Samuel Gonzalez's text around the abominably heavy, detuned doom the band have been honing for years. Being in part the alter ego of The Axis Of Perdition, it should come as no surprise the quite frankly sickening levels of aural depravity witnessed upon The Strange Tale Of Samuel Gonzalez, the slime-encrusted riffs lumbering monstrously out of the depths as waves of beautiful bass-driven nausea sweep over.

The best sounding release from this quartet yet, this sees Hesper Payne delve well beyond the depths of Black Sabbath and Trouble that many of their peers stick to, going lower and slower than most dare. But as the title track demonstrates, there is no sacrificing of the melodious to achieve this; and the re-recording of 'Litany Of The Drowners', from their very first release, proves both how far they have come by comparison - and the unique identity that they have coalesced around. It will be a while before we hear anything else quite this heavy in 2012.