Ever since the emergence of metal at large on Bandcamp, there has been a definitive list of acts that always manage to put out new material that not only commands respect from the moment they come into the scene but also manage to impress album after album, year after year in order to provide us with a unique experience that rarely if ever lets us down. Those bands always make for performances of a kind that are not to be missed whatsoever with the charts never once lying, and it’s with each style that we can see a selective but fantastic selection for all of us to pick and choose from. Spaceslug has been a name to know in the world of doom since their debut just five years ago, yet it’s even after multiple full-lengths, EPs, and a splendid split that Spaceslug still has yet to disappoint with their latest not at all far from the norm.

The many flavors and avenues of doom metal has always enabled the style to become a real bastion for innovation, tradition, change, and heaviness all at the same time somehow to make for a sound that rarely disappoints for any given reason with there being more than enough for us to choose from at literally any time. But, it’s in the case of Spaceslug that we have been getting an incredibly tasteful, interesting, and fascinating blend of all of that in one compelling entity with every album being an occasion that demands to be heard with every instance something that plays to virtually every strength of the style with “Memorial” being another glorious testament to the capacity of these masters at work. Yet, never once does this trio allow themselves to fall into the trap of strict repetition as we see them move from one album to the next as they continuously awalk along the same pathes but in different forms and patterns each time which effortlessly elicits an experience each time that feels fresh but familiar at the same time with the listener very much feeling part of the evolution of the band. Between the calming passages, brief stints into both ends of the heaviness spectrum were doom is concerned whether it be tinged in sludge or drifting into ethereal clouds of post-rock or post-doom, or right down the very center of doom metal’s trends that are no less than gripping in such capable hands, was there possibly ever any doubt that Spaceslug would deliver with “Memorial”?

It’s the natural evolution of such a talented group that still has all the psychedelia, heaviness, and flavorful songwriting that one could ask for given the band’s previous work while still having much to look forward to out of new material as it’s in these eight tracks that Spaceslug provides an experience that is very much to be expected at this point but it is far from boring as it’s still more than enough to keep us on our toes. The very potency of “Memorial” is something that needs to be heard in order to be properly understood, but it’s then everything else that surrounds it that makes one realize precisely what kind of creation this is.

LISTEN to “Memorial” on Bandcamp here.

LIKE Spaceslug on Facebook here.