Terraset – Concrete Altar

Tapes, remember them? They sound like crap.

Buried under thick layers of fuzz, tape noise and feedback is this odd but endearing little gem.

Then again the murky scuzz this three-song tape is such a part of the appeal that I would hate to see it buffed clean.

Concrete Altars, the debut from Virginia duo Terraset, mixes up dirty doom and sloppy punk before burying it deep under six feet of grunge.

The vocals forgo growls or shouts for a Mark Arm style drawl, as well as the occasional frothing gibber. In fact the whole shebang wierdly reminds me of a filthier, more metal version of Green River or early Mudhoney.

Sure there’s a few three-chord thrashes here that have been done before but it’s forgivable as Terraset, who cite Black Flag and Electric Wizard as influences, ooze character and attitude.

The pick is final track Place Called Prison, the doomiest of the bunch despite a thrashy opening and with a b-movie horror vibe.

Amid the distortion and flickering white noise, over plodding heavy riffs,comes freaky spoken word section before the song degenerates into spooky wobbly tape effects.

Like I said, it’s an odd beast. Punky doom, sludgy punk? Who cares, just listen.

The internet tells me Terraset features Clayton from Satan’s Satyrs on bass and drums but this is much better, more interesting and more metal than those cult goat-punks.