The Finnish sludge outfit Hebosagil (hebowhattawhat?) has released this EP entitled Cosmic as a promo record in early 2007 with a very limited pressing of 100 copies. After their 2008 full length record Colossal, the demand for this EP became so large that they decided to repress it. Here’s the result.

 

At first I had a bit of a hard time getting into the relentless nastiness of Hebosagil, but after countless spins I must say I found the way to enjoying this ugly piece of sludge, doom, hardcore, metal and grind. Names like Pulling Teeth and Trap Them come to mind when listening to the Cosmic EP, but there are also resemblances to acts like Iron Monkey, Buried At Sea and Bongzilla. A fine combination of nastiness, ugliness and despicable hellish noise. Just my cup of tea.

 

The ultra raw recordings of this EP make it a very convincing record that has its heart at the right place. Hateful music that expresses pain and suffering, just the way sludge is meant to sound. The balance between the slow, dragging parts and the more uptempo bash riffs is also very well thought out, there are more than enough dynamics in these seven tracks. I for one will slowly but surely find my way to that full length they’ve released last year. A fine addition to the sludge scene, from Finland nonetheless.