Band:	Black Tusk
Album:	Taste The Sin
Style:	Punk, Hardcore, Sludge metal
Release date:	May 25, 2010
A review by:	BitterCOld

01. Embrace The Madness
02. Snake Charmer
03. Red Eyes, Black Skies
04. Way Of Horse And Bow
05. Unleash The Wrath
06. Twist The Knife
07. Double Clutchin (In Four Chapters)
    1 - Redline
    2 - The Take Off
    3 - The Ride
    4 - The Crash

Black Tusk are one of the gaggle of bands that arose from the musical sludge hub of Georgia, USA. Georgia is to modern Sludge what Florida was to Death Metal.

Y'all \m/ back now, ya hear?

Whereas their contemporaries from "Hotlanta" and Savannah in Kylesa, Mastodon, and Baroness have recently all embraced exterior influences, such as 70's prog rock or dove deep into their vault of stomp boxes to add exterior elements to deepen their sound, Black Tusk have done no such thing.

They've basically adhered to a K.I.S.S. formula - "Keep It Sludgy, Stupid."

The Tuskan Raiding Trio plow through thirtyodd minutes of rapidfire music that, well, uh, we'll call "Motörsludge". Thundering riffs, pounding driven drums, shouted vocals. Nothing too fancy, just a raw, visceral slab.

The upshot of this approach is that the album is straightforward and energetic. You don't need to take time out of your busy metal day to try and decipher deeper philosophical subtexts, nor discerning hidden nuances. It's good music for brawling, drinking, partying, and driving. Driving perhaps in particular thanks to the closer in "Double Clutchin' " in four parts ("Redline", "The Take Off", "The Ride" and "The Crash") ? just don't engage in the driving after the drinking.

The drawback? it lacks the depth of the recent releases of their fellow Georgians. It's not a headphone album you'll pop in late at night to veg off to sleep getting all mental with.

But hey, that's a-ok. There's noting wrong at all with being direct and to the crunching point.