Fister are exponents of the crowded US sludge doom scene: active for about ten years, they have already released a myriad of ep’s and split albums, as well as four full lengths, the latest of which is this No Spirit Within. The trio from Saint Louis had already warmed up their engines with the recent release together with Chrch and, with this album, they widely confirm what we have learned to know in these years: Fister‘s sludge doom is rough, dirty and bad, every melodic semblance is blissfully disregarded, leaving, if anything, to sporadic and dissonant guitar solos the task of outlining something that is not just a blunt assault. Fister are definitely better when they decide to partially slow down the rhythms, making the songs take on a denser and more threatening consistency than when they travel at high speed: emblematic in this sense is a song like I Am Kuru, an episode of terrifying power that I imagine could create a shockwave worthy of the deflagration of a bomb live. For finesse and stylistic embroidery it’s better to go elsewhere: Fister show what is the very essence of sludge, a music that is the ideal meeting point between the anger of noise and hardcore and the dark imagery of doom: when all this is translated into an album like No Spirit Within, for that selected but faithful group of listeners gratification is assured.

2018 – Listenable Records