Wicked King Wicker - God Is Busy... Save Yourself

God Is Busy... is the latest release from the American doom project Wicked King Wicker. What singles Wicked King Wicker out from other doom projects is their use of noise. Each of these three 15+ minute slabs of monolithic heaviness is accompanied by a monsterous roar. ‘Those Who Bear Responsibility’ literally crawls along with brutal detuned sludge chords, underpinned by roaring distortion, and distant grunts and guttural moans. There’s little progression here, as Wicked King Wicker get stuck in a quagmire coughing up bilious chugging riffs. Way better is their second track, ‘Call My Name Sweet Demon, So I Know I Am Not Alone’, which is carried on waves of guitar noise anchored to a loping low-end bass. Throw in fluttering distortion, howls of feedback, stuttered electronics and constant coffin-knock hammering and you have a fine slice of doom guitar noise. Brutal stuff, and let's not forget the short outbursts of noise that kick in throughout. The final track, ‘So Easily Lead Astray’, features serious squeals of buzzin’ and bleepin’ frequencies, jolts of electronic buzz that jostles with some fine squalling guitar histrionics and lumbering guitar riffage. Maybe you could argue the case that Wicked King Wicker overdo the electronics here. At points it’s like listening to a doom project and Merzbow simultaneously. When it cuts to the guitars, it, like the rest of God Is Busy... Save Yourself, is seriously wigged out stuff that rates favourably with the scuzzy sound once offered by Skullflower, Ramleh... way back in the nineties. Ardent noise guitar fanatics and doom listeners will find much to savour here. For more information go to www.coldspring.co.uk