siLLy puPPy DEADWOUND released its debut EP titled IDENTITY SHAPES in 2017 and showcased an aggressive mix of blackened sludge metal with the immediacy of post-hardcore. This five member Britsh lineup of Luke Kempton (vocals), Phil Mann (guitar), Maxwell Thomas (guitar), Gavin Thomas (bass) and Gregory Allum (drums) from Kingston upon Thames crafts a harsh noisy mix of 90s Eyehategod with a darker and even bleaker approach with thrashy hardcore tinged grooves and a heftier than usual sludge metal percussive delivery.

This short EP only features five tracks, reaches the 21 1/2 minute mark and stampedes in a Hulk-smash rage for its duration. Caustic twin guitars in dissonant fury find a bombastic bass and dramatic drumming delivery perfectly accent Luke Kempton’s angry Gojira-like vocal screams. With touches of atonality and bouts of pseudo-progressive time signature meltdowns, IDENTITY SHAPES manages to deliver a whopping dose of toxic metal buildup in an effective short time span and as the cover art suggests, this is the perfect soundtrack for lounging around naked in a pit of skulls enshrouded by a sinewy vine covered setting in some ominous underworld.

While most tracks exist in the overall spectrum of the sludge metal paradigm, “Witch” for example tramples on as a more quickened form of blackened doom metal whereas “Cruel Road” takes atonality to a slightly higher level which heightens the dread and doom experience a few notches before bursting into a faster post-hardcore freneticism. The musicians are all seasoned with an obvious appreciation for a number of extreme metal and punk styles that all converge to make a muddy distorted sonic catastrophe to the soul with a bleakness oft reserved for only the most nihilistic black metal acts.

This is certainly metal music that qualifies as evil as fuck sounding with an ominous jangling of every guitar riff and an unholy submission that banters your soul and topples your sanity. While i wouldn’t call DEADWOUND’s debut a complete compendium of masterful proportions, i do find this style of hybrid metal taken to the n-th degree exhilarating and well worth the time it took to hunt it down. This is certainly a band that has some serious potential so i do hope that this is not a mere one-off and that DEADWOUND are dead serious in taking their nasty gnarled stylistic approach to the next level. Sludge metal rarely finds such proficient delivers of substantial technical mastery while existing in the vacuous state of hopelessness.