Salt Bath – Uncomfortable Choices (2017)

April 15, 2017

Salt Bath are a new band from the Newport area of South Wales, playing an abrasive form of back-to-basics noisemongery distilled through the blunt force weapons of choice – bass guitar and drums (with Venom Prison sticksman Sheehy on the skins). Uncomfortable Choices boasts an impressively all-encompassing production sound, courtesy of One Louder Studios, again in Newport. Imagine Big Black meets Melvins or if you want to go all out; Death From Above 1979 meets early Mr. Bungle.

The meat and bones of the record is a series of under-two-minuters that really compliment the chaotic bass and drums combination (I might be biased here…), although there is a smattering of longer tracks too, which not only help to break up the chaos and offer something a bit more profound, but contribute an intense layer of atmosphere, which considering the mediums chosen for expressing such sounds, is no small feat. Case in point would be “Love Song”; a lurching – almost swaggering – minimalistic crawl that just gathers in tension as it clamours together its seven minutes.

What a beauty!