It is not easy to put together in a genuine, as well as pleasant form, heavy sounds such as sludge doom and the melodic vision and groove of the best grunge: the French band Negative Concept succeed in this feat with this derailing debut entitled Unwelcome. The group was founded by vocalist and guitarist Cédric Marcel in 2015, but has only recently taken on the appearance of a full-fledged band, and with such a four-piece configuration it successfully tackles its first test, offering a work of great impact and convincing from every point of view while remaining in the vein of the already heard; the difference, as always in these cases, is made by the freshness and attitude with which the Parisian quartet approaches the matter. Authentic sonic bombs are hurled against the listener, who ends up being pleasantly struck by the heaviness of the riffing and the progressions of the heavier tracks, as well as by the digressions in the direction of a dirty and desperate grunge like that of the origins, as happens in the anomalous Eternal, in My Ways and in the emblematic title track, up to the obscurely deviated blues of the final Dead Country. An excellent debut with ample room for improvement, to be found above all in the cohesion of the sound to avoid the two souls sometimes appearing too separate from each other. 

2022 – Independent