Primitive Man - Caustic - review
Primitive Man - Caustic - review
Tracklist
01. My Will02. Victim
03. Caustic
04. Commerce
05. Tepid
06. Ash
07. Sterility
08. Sugar Hole
09. The Weight
10. Disfigured
11. Inevitable
12. Absolutes
A review by
Doc G. October 24, 2017
Caustic is a paradox. On one hand, it's a quintessential sludge metal album. If I had no prior knowledge what "sludge metal" was, and was forced to write a book report on it, I'd probably end up describing Primitive Man. It's a filthy ooze that just pours from your speakers. A slow, heavy pounding on the bottom, paired with fuzzed-out, abrasive guitar noise rounding off the top end. The vocals match the guitars in their imperfectly perfect delivery; throaty, gutteral cracking, somewhere in the ballpark of a more cavernous sounding Martin Van Drunen.
In that sense, Caustic is a perfect sludge metal album.
Here's where things get conflicting; the album gets pretty dull, pretty fast. Yes, they execute their craft flawlessly. Grab any track off this album and, standing on it's own, it will blow your proverbial dick off. Looking at the big picture though, Caustic is tediously monotonous. Nearly eighty minutes of glacial noise with little noticeable change is a bit hard to justify praising.
...Bringing us back to the whole "paradox" thing. Caustic could just be a dumb, boring, albeit fleetingly entertaining album, but considering how well Primitive Man do what they do, thinking "Maybe I'm just a moron for not getting this" is also reasonable consideration.
Comments
Comments:
13
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Posts: 5989
Honestly I'm kind of feeling the same way about this one, as much as I love the band, 70 straight minutes of this type of material is a bit too much. Scorn worked so well because it was just over half that, more like 40 minutes. Not bad, but there's definitely a max dose with these guys past which their formula starts to lose its impact. Still solid 7 - 8 material though
---- I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. “Come unto me” is a foolish word: for it is I that go. ~ II. VII
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Posts: 8263
Me too. At times I feel this is a masterpiece, while other times it bores me to death. It is definitely too long for its own good.
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Posts: 5289
Ewww bummer. Album still sitting on my hard drive - unrared. Scorn is so good. Might be a let down.
---- rekt
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Posts: 9575
I don't get the hype.
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| VIG
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Posts: 9575 Written by [user id=159927] on 14.11.2017 at 15:56 Even the first album doesn't really do anything for me.
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Posts: 40071 Written by Boxcar Willy on 17.11.2017 at 01:14 but then again you like shitty hipster mysic such as Sunbather ;-)
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996 
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Posts: 4287 Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 17.11.2017 at 05:28 You feel the same way.. Let me quote you  Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 23.07.2013 at 19:07
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Posts: 9575 Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 17.11.2017 at 05:28 Wow, you sure showed me.
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Posts: 18615
I agree on all points yet somehow I still like it a lot. I don't mind the length if I'm doing somehting else (like making food, doing laundry, haha) because I do enjoy the overall atmosphere a lot. Like you said, the songs individually are great. I'm sure that if I sat down and did nothing but just listening to this album, yeah... I would get bored halfway through. This is what happens to me with most ambient/drone albums though so I don't see it as a huge disadvantage. I just put it on and do stuff while the music makes the atmosphere for an hour. It sure makes my grocery shop much more interesting! Haha.
---- Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29 Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
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Posts: 8263 Written by X-Ray Rod on 21.11.2017 at 21:10 I relate so much to this, especially the last sentence 
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