The Pact. Slothrust

Reading the the band's name, I thought, no not for me, must be metal. Listening superficially I thought, what a crybaby that singer, not for me. Listening on the stereo set the sound of Slothrust deepened and widened and I seemed to have changed my mind. It always pays out to invest a little.

With The Pact Slothrust presents its fourth album to the world. On it the band explores several paths where rockmusic can lead to, to end it all with a acoustic ballad. In between The Pact pleases, scratches and teases to make sure the listener is in awe of what it is capable of. In 'Peach' the band effortlessly combines Drugstore, in the nearly disharmonious notes, Four Non Blondes/Linda Perry in the singing and Garbage in the guitar effects. Making 'Peach' a soft outside and hard within the core kind of song.

The punkrock eruption with loud bass soloing called 'Planetarium' shows how divers The Pact is. Not that the song is so outstanding as in unique, no, in the enormous batch of energy slung into my room. 'Planetarium' is the kind of boost anyone can use on an average day. Slothrust provides it with obvious pleasure.

A more modern name that comes to mind is U.K. band Wolf Alice. The diversity of the music in combination with the audacity in the presentation. Slothrust is far more direct in its music and singer Leah Weilbaum has far more vocal power. Just listen to the superb ballad 'Walk Away'. Another thing this song does is win me totally over to her voice. Somehow this song really draws me into 'The Pact'. As if the three previous songs were just teasers. The clear sound of the drums and bass leave all the room for Weilbaum to excel and let her guitars rip. Perfect balance.

Moving through The Pact I more and more am remembered of 4 Non Blondes only album, 'Bigger, Better, Faster, More!'. With one major difference, two actually, the songs are better overall, but the 'What's Up' effect seems missing. The Pact is also extremely divers in sound, genres and approach. Anything goes it seems as long as the song is good. And there's nothing wrong with the album there. (With a compliment for the beautiful artwork on the side.)

In fact, I can't stop wondering where my ears were at that first listening session. Most likely a totally wrong mindset or full distraction must be the explanation. The name Slothrust may be bit of a confusing name, don't let it deter you from stepping in. The band has so many sides to itself there's something in here for everyone and contains a world of rock for the more open minded among us, like

Wo.

You can listen to and buy The Pact here:

https://slothrust.bandcamp.com/


or listen to our Spotify Playlist to find out what we are writing about:

https://open.spotify.com/user/glazu53/playlist/6R9FgPd2btrMuMaIrYeCh6?si=KI6LzLaAS5K-wsez5oSO2g