Husks

Saying that Haarp's song and album titles sound like the New Orleans-based sludge metal downers that they are — at least musically — is puts it mildly, and on their 2012 album Husks, the three lengthy tracks featured show that they haven't changed; after all, why mess with a good thing? "Deadman/Rabbit" kicks in immediately with a full crash/crunch from the band, epic downtuned metal with classic black/thrash throat-tearing vocals. But perhaps unsurprisingly, it all slows down and gets perversely pretty as it goes, and from there the album is a well-worn pathway between these extremes, but it always delivered with measured power and an ear for putting all the pieces back together. If the album becomes attractively monochromatic toward its end after the monstrous beginning of "Deadman/Rabbit," it's not that a song like "Bear" isn't listenable, it's more like a concentrated dose of what's already been demonstrated earlier on the album.