Megatherium – GOD

Label: Argonauta Records
Releasedate: 10 April 2020

Loud, heavy, dark, bold, and filled with a combination of sorrow and rage, Megatherium offer drone-like beats at a BPM made for headbanging. Aptly named after the prehistoric giant ground sloth, Megatherium slowly march forward, their fuzzy and mumbling exterior hiding sharpened claws that are unavoidable as they close their way in on their prey, your unsuspecting ears. Repetition and long-windedness can often ruin an otherwise great track, but this is not the case for Megatherium. They lean into repetition, giving slight variations between low and chunky riffs, slowly evolving throughout tracks to maintain a dark and overwhelming mood of dread, melancholy, and vengeance.

Founded in 2011 in Verona, Italy, Megatherium strive to blend sludge and doom together into a messy and unorthodox combination. Their sound is an organized chaos with full-bodied guitar riffs and surprisingly clean vocals painted over a muddy canvas of booming bass and drums that have a more minimalist approach. The quartet’s breakout album, Superbeast, is an absolute knockout from start to finish, with standout tracks being Refuse to Shine, Fly High, and the 13-minute epic Twiceman. Despite being released in 2016, this album sadly has seen little play time. Hopefully, the same will not be said of this year’s release and Megatherium’s sophomore album, GOD.

The album starts with Generate, whose low throat singing–courtesy of Gianluca Bianco–and thrum of rolling feedback over sudden yet synchronized beats from the guitar and drums set the mood. The next track, The One, perfectly hits the spot right between stoner and sludge with a catchy opening riff and grimy solo, Manu’s vocals slowly melting over the complex beat provided by Torre on drums.

Following this, The Holy teases with a few short bursts of notes interspersed with hums of feedback before Torre, the clear lead on this track, invites Tode on guitar and Zek on bass to play buzzing and almost careless melodies. Manu’s vocals are somewhat minimal on this track, his voice taking on a different tone as it is somewhat brighter and changing pitches unexpectedly, seemingly meant only as a way to keep the rhythm moving between verses.

A quickened pace, more intense focus on the guitar, and a constant shimmering hum in the background introduce The Truth before clearing the way for Manu, his vocals merely pausing the work Tode is performing before his guitar harmonizes and then again claims the stage. This track is very interesting as it feels like two stories being told at the same time, one through Manu’s pensive musings, the other through Tode’s harder stings from the guitar.

The midway point of the album is marked by Organize, a brief intermission where Tode and Zek play soft and somewhat curious refrains back and forth in an empty abyss. After this comes the longest track on the album and the song previously released as a single, The Eye, a nearly 11-minute battlecry that changes genres and moods swiftly and beautifully before settling on something otherworldly yet more solid than bedrock. This track is heavy and positively dripping sludge, Manu’s low and lingering wails, Tode’s wandering and almost incidental riffs, Torre’s nearly math-like drum beats, and Zek’s powerful and bold playing on bass all culminating together into a track whose carefully restrained energy belies the power this quartet has to offer.

Time flies by while listening to this piece, not a single boring moment throughout, and suddenly the song is sadly over. Hot off the heels of the previous, Destroy is short and sweet and very experimental, peculiar sounds played over a doomy interlude from the guitars and drums that keeps threatening to progress into something harder but always retreats at the last second.

The final track on the album, The Strength, gives into the heaviness that the previous never achieved, rolling and slightly off-key strides from Tode breaking off into a section of contemplative strumming, whispers and thrums and Torre’s drums keeping the pace until Tode finally falls away, giving space for Zek to make himself known. About halfway through, the instrumental trio come back in full force, their meandering melody being reeled in when Manu finally breaks his silence, leading the group through the end of this track with a calm yet authoritative tone.

Sludge, doom, and sprinklings of psychedelia all mix together fluidly in every song by Megatherium, each track they produce a perfect balance between the laid out stoner vibe and the shambling quiet rage of sludge tiptoeing over the line to metal. Both albums they have released have been very impressive and deserve more than just one listen. With any luck GOD will be the boost this group needs to get themselves known outside of Italy and perhaps even across the pond.

Line up:

• Manuele “Manu” Germiniani – Vocals, fx
• Alberto “Tode” Todeschini – Guitar
• Fabio “Zek” Zecchin – Bass, vocals
• Stefano “Torre” Torregrossa – Drums

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