Praetorian – Pylon Cult
Release Date: 31st January 2025
Label: APF Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Blackened Sludge Metal
FFO: Iron Monkey, Acid Bath, Kylesa, Wallowing, Mastiff.
Review By: Mark Young
With Pylon Cult, Praetorian return with their full-length debut that hopes to further build upon strong live showings as well as their well-received EPs and with their signing to APF Records there has been quite the buzz around them as a band you should get in your ears.
There is something vaguely comforting in the gentle humour of the song titles, and I wonder if this is going to manifest itself in how the songs sound. I’ve never been to Stevenage, but I am assuming that there must be something dark going on in order to inspire the level of crushing fury that is manifested in the opening track. It’s a simple build, but one that just hammers itself home into your brain. The emergency stop at 2.10 that leads into feedback just hits, and we are into one of the thickest guitar tones you will hear. The dual vocals on here are hellish, and it’s quite the opening statement of just how sludgy things will get on here. The closing squeals and pops lead us into the soft opening of Chain Of The Dead Command, and then it gets trodden on by that one-two vocal and guitar combo. Throwing in a little groove just gives it that little lift and the drum infill just after 3.40 where the rest back off a little gives it a spacey feel. It’s not what I expected at all, and that is always a great thing.
Moving up through the album, you are confronted with simple but effective riffs that do what they need to do to push that song forward; the sliding motif on Gutwrenching that is utilised to the full extent, as well as the turn on a penny time changes that come in near the songs end. Tombs Of The Blind Dregs deploys some classic doom singing just to mix it up and give it an alternative form of attack. This is expanded on Remnants Of Head, set against a monumental riff build that burns through its 8 minutes and 45 seconds runtime in what feels like half the time. And that’s the key; their songs may run long, but they don’t feel long. They aren’t dragged out, repeating one riff over and over ad nauseam.
Nothing is wasted on here, the only fat is in the sound of the guitars, everything else has been pared to the bone and it shows. One of the problems I have with sludge and doom is that there is reliance on repetition as a method of extending those songs out. Not Praetorian, each track has a lot going on, even in the shorter tracks such as Title track Pylon Cult which chugs along and concentrates on getting you moving. Final track comes in blasting, with Burly Haemorrhoid seeing them occupying a higher tempo for a spell and it’s hats off to drummer Andrew Bisgrove who anchors everything, applying brutality and a deftness of touch in equal measure. So, if you aren’t swayed by sludge, then you should probably go and check something else out. But if you fancy getting intimate with massive sounding riffs, then you should check this out.
- Fear and Loathing In Stevenage
- Chain Of Dead Command
- Gutwrenching
- Tombs Of The Blind Dregs
- Dormant Psychosis
- Remnants Of Head
- Pylon Cult
- Burly Haemorrhoid
(4 / 5)