Band: Ultraphallus
Title: The Clever
Label: own production
Distribution: Mandaï Distribution
Release date: October 2009
Review: CD

The combo Ultraphallus was formed in 2002 at the town of Liège, Belgium, by two Eve And The Sickness-members, and named after Joe Jackson, the evil dad from the Jackson family. After some line-up changes, the recording of a first studio release and several performances throughout Europe, the band recorded this album in five days in their home town.
The band brings a psycho-grinding and somewhat noisy form of Sludge with elements from Doom, Drone and Crust. The mixture of groovy rhythms with funereal atmospheres and a filthy, rough sound fits (almost) perfectly to the intelligent compositions. The varying and sometimes original song structures are built up with precision and vision, covered with a psychotropic underground-oriented approach, which I do appreciate a lot. Besides, the formation comes with an own approach, an own sound, which is another positive element, because the quality of both performance and song writing is excellent. Nice!

86/100

Ivan Tibos.