Starve "Wasteland" LP

On the heels of their four-song demo, dingy Dutch doom act Starve is already back with their first full-length outing, "Wasteland" (released by Badger Records), which unloads 10 songs in nearly 50 minutes. All four songs from the demo appear here in re-recorded form, and there's a crisper recording this time out that gives the individual elements a bit more space in the mix – especially the vocals, which are a little more out in front now. Overall they maintain a natural sense of warmth and a thick, gritty density that fits this style perfectly, but now you can really hear the detail in those nasty pulses of bass, and the vocals have an extra smidge of attitude and intensity that provides more emotion to the lyrical delivery. For the most part the songwriting approach is still a fairly straightforward dose of crawling, rumbling sludge with snarling vocals (though the lyrics definitely tend to have more of a serious message with this band), but they are starting to bring in a wider range of tactics. A handful of riffs toss in some extra dissonance (most notably the excellent "Einzelgänger", which feels even more twisted than it did on the demo), occasionally the vocals will open up into a less strained form of yelling, the title track drops some wickedly piercing feedback, and there are a handful of bleak clean passages that flirt with a hint more of a bluesy flavor. Shit, there's even a quick bit of slide guitar in a couple tracks, and any band that breaks out the slide definitely means business! I never feel like I can really make my point with words these days, but hopefully the music will make the point for me…

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