Review by Daniel for Toadliquor - Feel My Hate - The Power Is the Weight - R.I.P. Cain (1993)
I'd not heard much about Californian five-piece Toadliquor before now. They've kind of existed on their own underground plane for the last few decades, always steering well clear of the mass popularity contest that is the commercial metal scene in the United States. Hell, they've always flatly refused to release their most popular record (i.e. this one) on CD, instead choosing to offer it up on vinyl only which should tell you a little bit about the band themselves who have largely remained fairly anonymous with none of the five members being associated with other acts. But people seem to have picked up on Toadliquor fairly organically over the years & we now see their 1993 debut album "Feel My Hate - The Power Is the Weight - R.I.P. Cain" being held up as a minor classic in some parts of the more well-informed metal demographic. As you all well & truly know by now, I need to know why in these cases so this week I've decided to explore Toadliquor for the very first time to see what the hell all the buzz is about. I'm glad I did too because it's a very rewarding record indeed.
"Feel My Hate - The Power Is the Weight - R.I.P. Cain" is a 42-minute album that includes seven songs with all of them being well & truly worth your time. It's an unapologetically sludge metal record too it has to be said. Other websites like Metal Archives & RateYourMusic will always award releases like this one a dual tag with doom metal but, in reality, there's really no need to if you have any idea as to what the sludge genre is all about it because it inherently implies the inclusion of doom tempos & riffs. As with a lot of good doom metal though, there's no necessity for Toadliquor to reinvent any wheels as far as their sound goes because good doom riffs are timeless & Toadliquor are too in many respects because this album could just as easily have been released today as 31 years ago. There are loads of bands that sound like this but very few deliver their product with this level of conviction. It's interesting that some RYMers are tending to reach for drone metal secondaries for this release though. Just where they're finding those associations is beyond me as I simply don't see it.
I wouldn't say that Toadliquor's sound is quite as dark, drug-fueled & desolate as an Eyehategod whose highly regarded sophomore album I reviewed only yesterday but I would suggest that it's slightly more consistent in its overall heaviness & I tend to favour it over "Take as Needed for Pain" for that reason, particularly given that it doesn't revert to groovier stoner metal riffs like Eyehategod have a tendency to do. The most significant & divisive element of their sound though is quite clearly the vocals of front man Rex whose delivery comes in the form of a tortured howl more than a masculine hardcore grunt or psychotic scream. I have to say that I do struggle with him a little bit at times & I can't deny that his inclusion has limited just how high my rating has the potential to go because I can't deny that Toadliquor would have been much better served with a more traditional sludge metal vocalist. Perhaps they wouldn't have been able to separate themselves from the huge swarming mass of American sludge bands if they had of gone that way though as Rex is certainly the main talking point when discussing the album. I just wish he didn't sound as phoned-in as he does at times because the effort doesn't always seem to be there.
The tracklisting is brilliantly consistent with the instrumentalists all having a fantastic understanding of the sludge metal medium & of dynamics in general. It's really very hard to pick out highlights as every song has excellent instrumentation with Rex's contribution tending to hold me back from being able to claim many of them as genuine classics. I do think that the crushingly immense heaviness of "Fratricide: A Requiem" manages to overcome those limitations & I can see it going on to become a genre favourite for me in the future. Outside of that, I'd probably suggest that the two tracks that precede it in "Gnaw" & & "Charred" make for an excellent trio that represent somewhat of a sweet spot for the album overall. The rest of the record isn't much different though & if you like one Toadliquor song then you'll no doubt dig everything they bludgeon you with here. Be warned though, this record isn't for the faint-hearted or the casual sludge listener. It's a wall-to-wall sludge-a-thon.
"Feel My Hate - The Power Is the Weight - R.I.P. Cain" was a very easy one to come up with a rating for really. I clearly couldn't afford it an elite score as Rex's vocals simply don't leave that as an available option but, at the same time, the instrumentation is so well written & executed that it was never going to score less than four stars either. I feel that I can easily see a) why Toadliquor as so highly regarded in underground circles & b) why they've never managed to break out of those circles for more mainstream appeal. They're very much a sludge band for sludge fanatics only &, thankfully, I just happen to be one of those so this has been a very worthwhile experience that I'd recommend to others who fall into that category.
For fans of Meth Drinker, Nightstick & Grief.