In case you're not hip, Miami's Shroud Eater are one of the country's best modern sludge/doom bands who, either due to their own reticence or a baffling lack of interest from record labels, are just now releasing their second full length album after 2011's debut, Thundernoise. They've been active in the interim, of course, but the handful of EP's and splits churned out over the past six years have been split across just as many labels and self-releases; even those of us already familiar are unlikely to have everything they've put out. This gals and guy trio can't seem to land a forever home, is what I'm saying.
STB Records may not be a household name at this point, but before picking up Shroud Eater's new Strike the Sun LP they've recently put out several stoner insta-classics by the likes of Year of the Cobra, Goya and Red Wizard, so the Shroud should be in good company. Strike the Sun doesn't stake much new territory, in all honesty, but for many us stoner/sludge fans we haven't quite reached capacity yet on this familiar blend of knuckle-scraping bass, speaker-quake riffs and a drummer that seems slightly more frantic than the rest of his teammates.
Sliding somewhere into the center of the whole YOB / Acid King / Sleep Venn diagram, Shroud Eater haven't quite ascended to the elite level of the sludge game yet, but Strike the Sun is a noteworthy shot across the bow, and perhaps with a more stable release schedule in the next few years they may just get there yet.
Score: 7.5/10
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbOis4JsHVY[/youtube]
