90%
Lochlan Watt has always had an intrinsic understanding of heavy music. Long before he was bringing the noise to a nationwide audience on Triple J, Lochlan was fronting bands and publishing zines that always kept up to the cutting edge in heavy and extreme. True Heaviness is Time is further proof of his commitment to that ethos, a crushing six track release that offers little respite from its pummelling.
Warm tones open the EP, gentle notes and ambience building to an assault of ferocious riffing that doesn’t let up from this moment. With the tone set, Spring adds Joel Birch alongside Watt for some extra weight to an already intense track. In Summer, some melodies rise to the surface with clean vocals courtesy of John Floreani of Trophy Eyes. Dropping melodic vocals into extreme metal is such an obvious trope it should barely rate a mention anymore, but Watt and RUN have learned the lessons of acts like Converge well and here they act as a shade of colour within the chaos instead of a way to ease the tension. Autumn is devastating in its ferocity, then Winter clocks in to take things to another level with tremolo picking and brutal hardcore into the choruses. Again, there’s inventive use of clean vocals as Watt teams up with Sophie Jest for some chiming back-ups into the bridge and through the outro before One Way Out smashes into the picture, as relentless as the rest to finish off the destruction.
Intense and with an unceasing ruthless energy, True Heaviness is Time is a release that stands up to the dark import of its title. Excellent work.
