UMUR "Container Ships" is the 2nd full-length studio album by US, San Fransisco, California based sludge metal act Kowloon Walled City. The album was released digitally in December 2012 through the band´s Bandcamp page through a "name your price" system. A CD version is available through Wordclock Records and a gatefold vinyl version is available through Brutal Panda Records.

The band play a dark and heavy type of sludge metal with shouting vocals. Lead vocalist Scott Evans shouts but he isn´t raw in a "distorted" type raw fashion. More like Page Hamilton from Helmet type shouting and raw. The vocals and the music are a bit monotone though but I guess the grey and monotone feeling I get when listening to "Container Ships" is exactly how Kowloon Walled City want me to feel. A feeling of desperation and "no hope left for a brighter future" are valid descriptions of the atmosphere of the album. The tracks can get a bit repetitive and I could have wished for a more colourful songwriting, but if despair and hopelessness are what you´d like to convey I guess catchy hooks and melodies are no goes.

The playing is solid and the sound production detailed, professional and powerful. In fact I´d say it´s the very well sounding production that pushes my rating from a 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating to a 3.5 star (70%) rating.

Kingcrimsonprog Kowloon Walled City’s debut full-length album Gambling On The Richter Scale from 2009 is a very strong and promising album. Apart from EPs and Splits, this is the main release from the band to date, but is a very good release indeed.

I came to the band through an online recommendation that they were ‘for fans of Mastodon, Godflesh and Neurosis’ and I think that that is a pretty fair statement. The band do have a certain similarity in the jagged, blasting and menacing-sounding songwriting style, akin to Mastodon’s Remission album and use sludgey guitar tones and infrequent barking screams not unlike Scott Kelly’s trademark vocal style and it is the musical connection with those band’s style that makes the band so enjoyable. Kowloon Walled City aren’t an exact clone, but if you like those bands then there’s a good chance you might like this album.

The San Francisco band are very talented and deliver this style of music well; gnarled, low-end orientated and noisey at is. All musicians here are skilled and create a solid and consistent record in Gambling On The Richter Scale. Album highlights include the incredibly crunchy and powerful Title Track and the slow building album-closer ‘More Like The Shit Factory.’

At around thirty six minutes in length, the eight track album is focused and concise, delivering the band’s intent without becoming stale or boring. The album all runs along similar musical lines, but the record isn’t really long enough for this to be a lack of variety.

Overall, I am looking forward to more music from Kowloon Walled City and hope that they get bigger in the future.

Kingcrimsonprog Kowloon Walled City’s debut EP Turk Street was released in and features five track, lasting around twenty five minutes in total.

The EP, named after the crack addict filled street where the band rehearse, is a very strong start from the band. Kicking off with the excellent sludgey opener ‘Turk, Taylor and Jones,’ you know immediately what you are getting yourself in to as the band deliver some very professional and good material, with harsh vocals, rumbling fuzzy bass and brash, noisy guitars.

The San Francisco band cite influences in the likes of Godlesh, Unsane, Melvins, Neurosis and other people have styled them as for fans of Baroness, early Mastodon etc. If you like any of these bands then I’d recommend you try Kowloon Walled City, who of course aren’t 100% the same as any of those bands but do share many of the same qualities and will likely appeal to you on that basis.

The Turk Street EP itself is fairly consistent from beginning to end. If you are a fan of the band I would recommend this EP whole-heartedly, it is equally good and stylistically similar to their full-length debut album Gambling On The Richter Scale. Then again, if you aren’t yet a converted fan but do enjoy this EP then I highly recommend that you give that album a try as well.