In the world of “caveman battle doom” metal, there may not be much competition, but Conan is the clear champion of this primitive sludge/doom metal genre. The Liverpool threesome has dropped their sixth full-length in the form of Violence Dimension (Heavy Psych Sounds). Clocking in at just under an hour with eight excruciatingly heavy tracks with all of the unga bunga you could ask for is just right.

“Foeman’s Flesh” starts with a fuzzy guitar riff before the song opens up with the Conan-patented wall of sound at Neanderthal-like tempo. However, the tempo takes an even deeper dive around the fourth minute, which eventually has more fuzzy leads flying above the bone-crushing riffage.

For those who want some two-stepping in their life, may I recommend “Total Bicep”! This track leans into the thrash side of their sound with plenty of high-tempo sections until after the five-minute mark when the crushing doom returns. With how the song plays out, the outro certainly feels more like a breakdown that hits just right.

And for those looking for some sludge, “Frozen Edges of the Wound” will tickle that part in your caveman brain. Good mid-tempo that will allow for lots of stomping around the pit with verse parts that push into the two-stepping area to further push the punk behind sludge. No breakdowns or slowdowns in this track, just a straight-up ripper.

I’ve been a fan of Conan now for just shy of a decade, and they continue to pop out banger album after banger album. Violence Dimension is the latest chapter of success for the English caveman battle doomers and shows no signs of slowing down, erm, in terms of their material, not tempo. If you haven’t given Conan the time of day, you owe it to yourself to start now.

Buy the album here:
https://www.heavypsychsounds.com/bands/conan.htm

8 / 10
TIM LEDIN
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