The most striking feature are the vocal gymnastics of Taito Halonen and they hit you on the first dirty sludgy track, "Tyrant Pleasures". He goes from raspy grunts to clean singing to breathless growls. It'd be easy to compare him to Mike Patton but Halonen's vocals have a dirtier feel at times and sometimes remind me of a Chuck Mosley with wider range. "Coffinborne" moves from slow sludger doom into a faster pass and whips the listener thoughout regardless of the speed. Put your dirty mind at rest, "Seamen Swallow'd" is actually a rollicking track about sailors being swallowed. "Warwhore" is menacing with its catchy chorus and doom metal underbelly dragging through the slimiest sludge. "Pile of Tongues" has a death metal edge but heads in a rock 'n' roll direction and the vocals even take a short turn towards the very melodic edge of the Messiah of Candlemass. "Knight of a Bent Lance" sounds messy at times due to the drums shifting tempo but the band keep it together and if it wasn't originally intended, it's a fabulous disaster.
"Whispers of the Worm" lets you know that Grave Siesta keep their Black Sabbath and Candlemass albums close to the heart but when the vocals take a turn, you realize just how much these guys also treasure death metal.
While there are some clean vocals on this record, "Piss and Vinegar" is a dirty album and Grave Siesta offer up far more than retrodden Black Sabbath riffs. This band are treading some interesting ground that the more adventurous music fan will appreciate.
4/5
Listen to the album on Grave Siesta's bandcamp page
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