Torso - Grief

Grief's third full-length is the culmination of their sound, their sludge metal zenith. An epic-length album (two extremely hot-mastered LPs in the vinyl edition, which is well worth checking out for turntable fans) featuring seven long, deadly slow songs (even the shortest, the grinding and doomy opener, "I Hate Lucy," is a spry seven and a half minutes), Torso focuses on the band's instrumental talents. No raging solos or displays of tasty chops here, just Grief delivering what they're all about: painfully leaden -- in a good way -- power riffs at molasses-thick tempos. Singer Jeff Hayward's contributions are minimized on this record, which makes his sore-throat vocals that much more effective. Doom metal at its finest. ~ Stewart Mason, All Music Guide