-(16)-’s sludgy serenades have reached their tenth album with Guides For The Misguided. They feel as strong as ever with Bobby Ferry and company continuing their upward trajectory with each new album release.
Opening with the vitriolic “After All,” the listener gets absolutely pummeled by riffs and toxic vocals helping to create a premium product that’s equally heavy and rocks with a bit of harmony thrown in for good measure. “Blood Atonement Blues” is another track that meets a similar level of expectations, slow and low until it becomes a more fully fledged out monster with tremendously bluesy underpinnings and subtle bass work that helps the song to rise on follow up spins.
“Fortress of Hate” and “Fire and Brimstone Inc” are dense up front and build using excellent blues riffs and guitar solos, certainly speaking towards the stoner end of the sludge spectrum. The slow crawl of “Resurrection Day” is a great bridge to the rest of the album’s intentionally uneven approach, offering more in terms of variety than most bands in this genre typically do.
-(16)- also aren’t afraid to pay homage to influences on Guides For The Misguided seeing as both Bad Brains and Superchunk get their moments of acknowledgement with “Give Thanks and Praises” and “The Tower,” respectively. They offer their own spins on punk songs new and old.
-(16)- are true to their sound from their outset and flat out rocking out and crushing their expectations right from the very first riff on the album. This album has a backbone heavily rooted in the blues rock foundations of metal, the general melancholy and pain that usually accompanies sludge and the raucous, top tapping and headbanging of the best stoner rock.
This album has it all. Having sacrificed nothing in their sound, Guides For The Misguided is easily -(16)-’s most accessible album yet.
(released February 7, 2025 on Relapse Records)
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