FISTULA - "GALAXIES OF DISAPPOINTMENT"

Ohio's Fistula return with yet another devastating collection of raw punk/sludge/doom on their latest album, titled Galaxies of Disappointment. Marking album number 11, along with countless EPs and splits, since their 1998 inception, Fistula have been impressively prolific to say the least, while also teetering on the edge of obscurity. It's no easy feat being a band that long and steadily churning out consistent top-notch releases, despite line-up changes, but Fistula – with Corey Bing at the helm – have done it over and over again, and this album is no exception.

Created over the past few years while on hiatus from playing shows, Galaxies of Disappointment features Fistula's intense and distinct brand of pure, grimy, noisy punk combined with NOLA-esque sludge and gnarly, nihilistic doom. The album is comprised of seven relentless new tracks, incorporating a balanced mix of heavy, mid-tempo aggression with groove-filled low and slow crawling misery. Fistula keep things simple, as all good sludge should be, yet the shift in tempos maintains interest and unpredictability, while the musicianship is legitimately tight throughout.

Each track is as ugly and nasty and Fistula's moniker suggests. Acidic fuzzed-out guitars and scathing noise are coupled with blood-pumping drums and corrosive vocals, which creates an intense, vitriolic listening experience akin to the likes of crust-sludge legends Dystopia. Even during the moments the tempo slows down, Fistula's crushing intensity still grabs you by the throat and never lets go. Completely visceral and abrasive, Galaxies of Disappointment is the sonic equivalent to the despondent world we live in. Bing says, “These songs weren't supposed to see the light of day, it was just a time where this music reflects the life around us, and we just document it.”

Fistula now also have a reinvigorated line-up, with Bing holding it down as the only original member, and they are once again returning to playing live. He says, “We have been getting tons of emails and texts with people showing us love and wanting us to tour and exist again and it is flattering that anyone gives two shits about the noise we make. I'm fortunate anyone cares.”