Welcome to the latest edition of “Freeloader” in which we review albums that you don’t have to feel like a douche for downloading for free. Today Satan Rosenbloom checks out Empty Crawlspace by Godstopper.

Go ahead and scoff at the suffocated production on Empty Crawlspace by Toronto band Godstopper. You’re losing out if you can’t get past the EP’s strangulated sonics. They’re partly the point, I’m guessing – those absent highs and lows smoosh everything into a compressed center, like we’re peering through a fisheye lens at the terrible things happening in the interior of this music.

And there’s a lot on the interior of this music. Godstopper’s Tumblr page shows reams of images of boarded up houses and masked or obscured figures. This music seeks to obscure, too. Dissonant sludge riffs cohabitate uncomfortably with Mike Simpson’s bell-clear vocal harmonies, spewing up sparks. Chiming major key guitars grind against gurgling bass lines. Nothing is quite right. Check out this video clip for “Clean House” for evidence.

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Remember Sludge, my new favorite band of 2010? Seems the extreme Swiss metallers are off to a great start in 2011 with a brand new song called “Fuck,” which they debuted at a live gig in Switzerland last week. Sludge’s 2008 album Lava, which I only discovered last year, still rocks my playlist occasionally; it’s putrid, filthy, up-tempo sludgened crust and doom is the perfect soundtrack for just about any mood. As far as I’m concerned, Sludge’s new album can’t come soon enough.

Check out “Fuck” below, then check out several songs from Lava at Sludge’s ReverbNation page.

-VN

[via Blabbermouth]

Last week I discovered Sludge. Life has not been the same since.

Though a lot of their newer material doesn’t seem to be the in the same “Gojira played half-time” vein as the video I posted last week and the one above, it’s still damn good; sorta like a less Southern version of Goatwhore. I’m shocked so few people in the U.S. know about this amazing band.

If you like what you’re hearing above, check out the band’s Reverb Nation page; they’ve got their whole 2008 album Lava streaming.

-VN

MS reader Jesse Z.’s description of Sludge as “Gojira played half-time” had me interested, but it took all of 5 seconds of watching the above video he sent to have me completely sold. Now I’m in love, head over heels; I want to know absolutely everything about this band and possess their entire discography.

I did a little recon on their Reverb Nation bio page; they’ve been around since 1996, toured all over Europe, released a bunch of records and even share a member with Samael. I’m surprised I haven’t heard of this guys, but I guess they just haven’t had much distro in the U.S.

Someone bring this band to America. NOW. Dear Sludge, if you ever make it to NYC… the weed’s on me.

-VN