October 2, 2012 | , | 3.5

Fuckhammer, Hammered to Fuck

Fuckhammer: Hammered to Fuck

Look, I’m all for an attention grabbing band name. I’m cool with whatever you think you should call yourselves, but, seriously, Fuckhammer? Despite the ridiculousness of their name, I was thoroughly surprised and pleased to not encounter some shitty-assed porno-grind when hitting play on the band’s debut EP, Hammered to Fuck. Instead, I was greeted with some groovy, sludgy metal that sounds as though it crawled from the piles of swampy aftermath of Katrina. This is music deserving of a more thought out moniker — just sayin’.

At any rate, “Born of the Ass” starts things off with swampy groove with sludgy, textured riffs. The rhythm section keeps things simple with rumbling bass and steady drum work. The vocals sound a bit like a cross between Eyehategod’s Mike Williams and Buzzov-en’s Kirk Fisher. You can certainly see that these guys wear their inspiration on their sleeves and there isn’t anything wrong with that. “Drone” carries the southern-fried sludge with a slightly darker tone, but with no less malevolence. This is some pretty decent shit.

The last two tracks are my favorite of the short EP. “Hillbillies” starts off with a brief sound byte before launching into some seriously infectious groove. The song has a solid series of riffs and a stoner vibe that invades your skull like murky bong water. “Abortion Addict” wraps the four-pack of songs with chunky riffage and more sludgy tones but with less groove and more bludgeoning doom.

My rant regarding the name of this band aside, the churning music held within it’s confines is pretty damn solid and addictive. Hammered to Fuck has some serious stoner groove going on here that matches the band’s dark, sludgy tones perfectly. I look forward to hearing more from these guys.