This CD rules. Rue pick up where they left off on their self-titled debut. Aldebaran expand greatly on the promise shown on their debut 7". These songs feel much more developed and they make great use of two different vocal stylings (although the liner notes say all three guys sing!) to keep things fresh. This CD has me very excited about Aldebaran.

Each band's offering is crucially brutal and very heavy. Rue play what I like to call "Midwest Doom," a devious noise falling somewhere between crusty southern EyeHateGod grooves, the drive and grind of old school Fates Warning, and the British mastery of classic riffs a la Electric Wizard. Aldebaran's tracks are painfully heavy. Aldebaran's approach to the sludge aesthetic is not that different from Rue's, but overall they are much more epic and similar to how Sleep, Yob and Buried at Sea perceive "heavy.� Aldebaran build hypnotic dirges with their thick riffs, pounding away and carrying each song, then out of nowhere a sinisterly planted change throws the piece into a whole new direction, creating more opportunities for them to kill you off.

I got this album for the Rue tracks, but was completely and unexpectedly blown away by the Aldebaran tracks. Slow, down-tuned heaviness somewhere between Yob and Bongzilla, with extra harsh snarly vocals. High quality stuff.

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