Time Signature Heaving earth...

Genre: alternative/sludge metal

The British duo Kroh are slated as a doom metal band from Birmingham, one of the most important cities in the history of metal being the hometown of the likes of Black Sabbath and Judas Priest. Kroh's eponymous album was released in 2011 and features eight tracks.

While marketed as a doom metal band and listed as a stoner band in many an online metal database, the music on Kroh strikes me as being more of a hybrid of sludge metal and alternative rock/metal, with a touch of doom. We are treated to heavy beats and crushing riffs every now and then, but the overall sound has more of a sludge-feel than a doom-feel to it. There is, in all fairness, a Black Sabbath influence on the album as heard in some of the guitar figures, which definitely pay homage to Tony Iommi, but the vocals and the whole album as such strikes me as having that introvertness that characterized 90s alternative rock. I don't know if I would call Kroh's music shoegaze music, but it is melancholic and more inward-looking.

The album has a lot of good qualities, but does not really rock my world. It should, however, be the missing link for those who like introvert alternative rock and sludge/doom metal who have been looking for an album that combines the two.

(review originally posted at seaoftranquility.org)