Nic Brown
First of all it should be noted that this is not a record review but a warning. "Louring" is not a heavy metal album but a cataclysm; a solar system-sized sonic bulldozer whose sole purpose is to obliterate anything and everything that is foolish enough to get in its path. Metal fans always love comparisons, particularly when it comes to heaviness, but Jagged Mouth have taken metal beyond heavy; words simply cannot convey the immeasurable, pulverising power of this record which, if you insist, makes Slayer circa "Reign in Blood, sound like One Direction at their absolute icing sugar-coated weediest. Extreme metal fans love their subgenres too, so again, if you insist, you could probably stick it in the pigeonhole labeled "'blackened funeral doom". After over 30 years of devouring the most extreme guitar-based music extant and without even the slightest hint of exaggeration, "Louring" is by a considerable margin, the heaviest metal album I have ever heard. Play it on a large enough sound system and beings from galaxies millions of light years distant would have their scientists coming up with ways to tell you to turn it the fuck down. Stunning in the sense that even a second's exposure to it will leave you feeling like you've been tasered.
Favorite track: There Is No Help Coming.