Reviews list for Slab! - Descension (1987)

The Sphere was created and turned on with the first ever album to fuse to industrial rock with metal. Slab's Descension is not really super good, but it's highly underrated compared to more popular bands like Ministry. Slab! seemed to have built their sound from industrial-ish rock bands Swans and Big Black.

The Big Black influences are especially apparent in the opening track "Tunnel of Love", my favorite of the album and the perfect start to the industrial metal genre. However, the rest of the album isn't as promising as the opener. Though "Dolores" and "The Animals" have great potential. One of the two bonus tracks "People Pie" is another great highlight despite a more poppy sound. All in all, a kinda poor album while a decently respectable beginning, for anyone up for a similar vibe to Godflesh and Trust Obey's Hands of Ash....

Favorites (only ones I like): "Tunnel of Love", "Dolores", "The Animals", "People Pie"

The first documented Industrial Metal album of all time comes from unknown UK band Slab!. It’s surprisingly eclectic, though that unfortunately means only a couple tracks are actual Industrial Metal, while others are various combinations of Industrial music with Jazz, Funk, and Rock.

Very experimental and noisy, it doesn’t lack innovation, but the ideas present here are very primitive. None of the songs contain any staying power, as the riffs are simple, the choruses are weak, and there’s not enough atmosphere or neat instrumentation to make up for those. They could have been something great if they honed these skills and went further, but unfortunately their story pretty much stopped here. Still hugely significant to Industrial Metal.