There is nothing quite like some quality sludge in the world of metal. Few styles are able to so uniquely heavy and all-encompassing when it comes to a wide variety of sounds while consistently bringing quality on a high level. Yet, it’s not all that often we get a band that can properly bring out the potential greatness for the style in full force, so that makes a band that can actually accomplish it all the more impressive. Tonight, I discovered that’s precisely the case with Sky Pig’s latest.

What sticks out to me more than anything about this fantastic effort, even hours after listening to it multiple times enjoying every single second of the assault on my senses, is how unforgivingly raw “Hell Is Inside You” is even in its calmest moments. Sky Pig manages to consistently and constantly capture the listener’s attention without so much as breaking a sweat due to how masterful they are when handling their craft, and it’s across just four tracks that the entirety of this work is able to bring in virtually every possibly great aspect of sludge that could ever be brought to the table with every single one of those elements being nigh on delectable. Just to let yourself fall back into the swirling yet inviting mild chaos that “Hell Is Inside You” advertises in just a few seconds is the exact sort of material that sludge fans are always vigilant of, and I’ll be damned if I let such a piece like this slip under my radar without so much as a mention of its grand excellence even as it melts away my skin and infects my brain with each song after another. It’d be no overstatement to say that Sky Pig really dug deep for “Hell Is Inside You”, but I can’t help but have a nagging sensation in my core that this is just the tip of the iceberg for this act given how naturally everything felt like it came to be with this album so to envision what an effort that they truly had to dig deep for boggles my mind.

I’ve been on the lookout for something even half-interesting from the sludge world in recent times, and I consider stumbling upon what Sky Pig has created here a stroke of pure fortune. Should you be looking for something that’s really going to tickle your sludge-desiring fancy, then I can honestly say there isn’t much that can go wrong with an investigation into the glorious chasm of sound that is “Hell Is Inside You”.

LISTEN to “Hell Is Inside You” on Bandcamp here.

LIKE Sky Pig on Facebook here.