Ghetto Angel

With the arrival of the Ghetto Angel EP, in early 2008, North Carolina sludge/doom troupe Sourvein reaffirms not only their predilection for short form releases (having issued several split singles in a row, yet no full album since 2002), but also their loose grasp on the concept of time. After all, Ghetto Angel is the belated second installment of a proposed three-EP sequence begun with 2005's Emerald Vulture, so the notion that an album's worth of Sourvein material may not be available until 2011 surely won't make the band's fans very happy. Furthermore, exactly half of Ghetto Angel's four tracks (opener "Nightwing" and the unfortunately, aptly named "Doldrums") already figured, in different versions, on the group's recent split singles with Church of Misery. And together with new offerings "Septic Werewolves" and the unusually energetic "D.I.L.L.I.G.A.F.," they really offer nothing new to the fans who waited this long: just perfectly competent, mildly engaging, but utterly predictable sludge and doom. Clearly, motivation and inspiration are both in short supply for the members of Sourvein at this juncture of their career; and much as one hates to knock any band that's committed so many years to an admittedly harsh muse, it's difficult not to feel short-changed — here's to a speedier release schedule.