Harvey Milk - Harvey Milk

Way back when they were completely unknown, these sludgelords recorded an ultra-crushing debut with Bob Weston (the other Shellac guy) behind the helm. The source tapes quickly went missing (oops) and the session was all but forgotten, save for a few crap copies that have been floating around since the early 90s. Amazingly, the least crappy cassette version has been remastered and finally released in its utterly unrelenting and inward-gazing splendor. For those unfamiliar, Harvey Milk fuse thick low-end repetition, evil math and transcendent vocals that crank up the weird-o-meter to BEYOND. Guitarist/howler Creston Spiers gargles with battery acid and then coughs bloody chunks, only to wail helplessly from the depths of some unexplored cavern in a detached, forlorn growl. With an attack that is arguably more punk than metal, these dirtbag geniuses have since redefined heavy/epic slowness, and this long-lost treasure proves it. Well worth the wait. [Eric Ledford]