Lozen - 'Enemies Against Power'

Hailing from Tacoma, WA, that state that gave us grunge bands like The Melvins, Bikini Kill, and, oh yeah, Nirvana, is Lozen. The duo recently released its Australian Cattle God debut, Enemies Against Power, and while it sounds awesome in theory (two lovely ladies smashing out sludge rock in the spirit of the WA bands mentioned above), the album doesn’t know when to knock it off, pummeling the listener with repetitive drudgery.

Clocking in at 50 minutes, there is little to distinguish one of the album’s seven tracks from the next, with the exception of album opener “Breech,” which begins with emotive, Heart-esque vocals before kicking into sludge territory. Like a more metal Courtney Love, Lozen pursues some sort of grinding muse amidst noise, but few listeners will care to follow. The longest track on the album at nearly nine-and-a-half minutes, “Breech” sounds like three or four songs aimlessly smacking into each other.

Enemies Against Power engages a steady decline from there on in. “Made With Love,” Unspeakable Truths,” “Heart of Filth”… they’re all interchangeable and unlikable. Each track is roughly three times longer than necessary, churning and churning until all interest is turned out. Part of what made similarly grungy albums like Nirvana’s Bleach or Black Flag’s My War brilliant was their brevity. Granted, those two albums are just 8-10 minutes shorter than Enemies Against Power, but the song total is a lot higher too. This stuff is cliché sludge metal, slow and turgid and terribly dull.

On the flipside, though, it’s female-made, a rarity in all forms of metal. In the event that you do enjoy your riffs as dirty as possible, Lozen might fit right in. But be warned: Lozen is so sleepy it may cause unconsciousness.