Still one of the UK's best kept secrets, Art Of Burning Water has been terrorizing my sound system since 2006's The Voyage Of The Pessimistic Philosoph; back then, I compared the band to a blackened, Holy Terror-influenced math metal, and that's still pretty much what these guys sound like, an evil mix of droning ultra-heavy sludge, massive Unsane/Today Is The Day-esque noise rock, and an evil streak a mile long that makes Art Of Burning Water sound incredibly psychotic. They've been more active on the recording front as of late, dropping the excellent Head Of The Tempest Lp a year or two ago, and they've quickly followed that up with album number three, the vinyl-only This Disgrace, their first for the esteemed avant-rock imprint Riot Season. It's their best stuff yet, a collection of vicious aural beatings that are capped off on each side with extreme, sample-infested electronic blast-scapes. The singer's unique psychotic vocal style (an intense, gasping shriek that is a big part of this band's sickening, evil sound) sounds more crazed than ever before, and the production is perfect, giving these guys just the right amount of clarity to give their twisted, discordant heaviness the teeth it needs. Droning, skronky riffs inject a feeling of constant terminal unease as the band kicks things off with "You Won't Know Till You've Cried", building the tension until they explode into the crushing, angular heaviness with full force, an eruption of discordant sludgy crush like some massively distorted, pitch-black version of Am Rep noise rock. From there, they lurch through more crushing jagged metal and angular, often Slayer-esque riffs, often employing interesting post-production tricks to create a panic-driven nightmare of skewed electronic noise and warping effects (like on "Way Of Bastard"). And as with their previous albums, the songs have a proggy quality to some of this stuff that really evokes latter day Today Is The Day, but with a much more sinister, blackened feel. One of the best metallic noise rock bands around in my opinion, totally unique within the realm of contempo Am Rep-influenced brutality.