EP REVIEW: Gutter South – Dope Skum

There are some things in life that just go together. PB and J. Ant and Dec. Teenagers and Lynx Africa. These things just make sense. Add to that list sludge metal and the southern states of America. There’s a long, proven history of great sludge bands coming from the region, such as CROWBAR, KYLESA and THOU, and looking to follow in their footsteps are Tennessee’s DOPE SKUM. The duo of guitarist and vocalist Cody Landress-Gibson and drummer Scott Keil have concocted a heady mix of sludge, grunge and stoner metal here on their sophomore EP Gutter South and seek to put Appalachian metal on the map.

After some atmospheric build up and gently strummed acoustics, Folk Magic dives down the rabbit hole with a massive, fuzzy riff that lets you know right away what the deal is. Smokey, bluesy and badass, it’s the kind of hypnotic sludge riff that will get crowds headbanging in unison, moving together like great fields of wild grass in a mountainous gust. 

Later, Feast Of Snakes keeps the hazy riffs coming in droves. At a certain point though you begin to question if each of these tracks is based around the same theme, as they start to sound remarkably similar to one another. Add Landress-Gibson‘s somewhat sparse vocals feeling very one-note before long, and the cracks begin to show on Gutter South. There’s also a massive frustration in the form of the running order, namely in DOPE SKUM‘s decision to put an Interlude as track two of five. On paper, you may not think much of that, but in practice, the (admittedly great) bluegrass break in the tide of sludge makes those final three songs feel bizarrely long when compared to the first one. 

When all is said and done, Gutter South winds up being a messy – if occasionally tantalising – snapshot of aspirations unfulfilled. With some tighter delivery and smarter production choices, DOPE SKUM are capable of much more. As it is though, this EP is one for the genre completionists.

Rating: 5/10

Gutter South is set for release on April 21st via self release.

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