Austrian shout-a-long sludge metal band Kielkropf come with a handful of heavy doom riffs and a few pages of ‘shit to get off their chest’ on their second EP ‘Ignorance is Bliss’. Having made music together throughout the 90’s in death/metalcore band Fischhalle guitarist Rainer Fink and vocalist Jerry (Thomas Reisner) reunite for some good old timey slow motion Motörhead style sludgin’ across this four song release coming a few years after their debut in 2015. They’ve got some Goatsnake and early Cathedral-esque grooves to kick out and are fixin’ to belt them out a la Tungsten‘s ‘183.85’ in the sense that they’re shoutin’ and doomin’ without frills or any high-falutin’ ‘Odd Fellows Rest’ style melody to get in the way.

Throughout my listens I couldn’t’ help but think of Kielkropf as a doom version of early Blood For Blood due to the Jerry‘s Crowbar influenced vocals and scornful, ironic lyricism. I’m sure their intention was more along the lines of straightforward doom metal with a hard rock swing and the heaviness of early 2000’s sludge. I carry a lot of inescapable nostalgia for that era of sludge metal, so gauge your interest accordingly if you don’t. From tip to tail ‘Ignorance is Bliss’ was a big improvement over the band’s previous work ‘Step Back, I’m ’bout to Dance’ (2015) if only in terms of hitting a heavier groove and getting a small production boost. A nice short slug of a record to crack open and sit with after a long day.

Hastening self-defeat. 3.25/5.0

<strong>Help Support Grizzly Butts’ goals with a donation:</strong>

Please consider donating directly to site costs and project funding using PayPal.

$1.00