One man metal doesn’t usually cater to my fancies because I’m a big proponent of viewing anything I listen to live when at all possible. But when we’re talking about the music of Matt Koch I can’t help but dig my fingers into it. I had the pleasure of playing several shows with Matt when he played drums for my now defunct band: Bad Actor. Matt portrays the unrelenting fury of a drummer chocked full of enough self-motivation to pick up a guitar and attempt to mesh with himself, and then scream sheer fucking madness over all of that. Add in a bachelor’s degree in makin’ records, and Towering Filth has spawned from it’s vile and equally rotted, blackened sludge spewing shell.

On the filth facebook page Matt categorizes the genre as a “Bathory rip off”, but I feel he’s selling himself a tad short. This record snarls and broods amidst drowning in it’s on toxic phlegm. The first track The Chorus of Dragging Chains sounds just like it’s title foreshadows: a sludge engorged anthem to the tempo of a war march. I can envision thousands of enslaved thoughts cracking under the weight of ignorant shoes. This isn’t your down home flavor of sludge either, tinges of crusty hardcore are more prevalent and sound akin to Oathbreaker swinging clenched fingers alongside Engineer. Matt really showcases his dynamic musicianship here in providing his shrill hateful frustrations with high register screams. You know, the same sound that would make a heroin addict or suburban conservative American house wife tear at their own flesh with anxious fervor. The lyrics are well organized throughout, and saturated with misanthropic imagery as it’s foundational device.

The album reaches a more staggering pace with the second track, also appropriately titled, I’ve Got Wounds That Time Can’t Heal. The guitar work here really drags your senses through muck stained waves. There are no peaks and valleys here, just one progressively bloated groove in it’s final desperate moments.  It’s trying to swim, but the fatigue generating from grimy inhalations have weakened the song leaving it only three opportunities to violently protest without reaching a full on sprint. Matt did choose to implement a brief minimal yet psychedelic segue to provide a climax to before the final acceptance of his wounds that will heal.

Framed Elegantly in Ashes, the third track of four, is that last original leaving a cover to conclude our brief view into feverish dreams of dystopian prophecy. I won’t ruin any surprises, so you can feel free to entertain your curiosity by clicking here to access the Towering Filth Bandcamp page.

Click here to check out Towering Filth on Facebook.

- Jared Oates Haggard