Noothgrush's Live For Nothing is, as the title indicates, a release that captures the band's live performance – or rather live performances, because it actually documents two live performances originally broadcast by local radio stations in the late 90s. Now, I had never heard about Noothgrush let alone heard their music, and based on their weird name and the Star Wars references in some of their song titles, I though that they were your average sloppy sludge act.
I was kinda wrong. Sure, there are sludgy elements to their music, but, to my positive surprise, most of the tunes on the release are full of more traditional doom metal elements in the form of droning single-string note harmonies performed on two guitars, and the vocalist makes use of growled vocals – in a way, the tunes features on this release fall somewhere in between sludge metal and death-doom. While there are a couple of uptempo puny parts in a couple of tracks, and the aptly titled 'Derrell's Porno Song' is a very groovy affair which reminds me of Trouble when they take up faster paces, most of the tracks on this release are insanely heavy, and the slow simple drum beats and droning doom-ladden riffs are really dark and really tasty stuff if you like sludgy doom. Even their cover version of the Celtic Frost classic 'Procreation of the Wicked' sounds even more bizarrely heavy than the original.
There is one thing on this release that I hav enever heard a doom-oriented band do before: there is a micro-song on the album in the form of the 23 seconds long 'Evazan', whose lyrics consists of a a cult dialogue from Star Wars: A New Hope. Micro-songs are typically associated with grindcore, so you can imagine how surprised I was to hear a micro-song on a sludge-doom release – cool stuff!.
My problem with this release is the production, which is very lo-fi on both recordings (it is slightly batter on the second half though). Now, if you are familiar with Noothgrush's music already, this might not be a problem, but if you are a newcomer like me, then this live album is not the best introduction to the band because it can be difficult hear what is going on at times. But what I could make out sounds really interesting and definitely piqued my interest in thus underground sludge-doom act.
Track listing:
1. Sith
2. Gage
3. Jundland Wastes
4. Evazan
5. Erode the Person
6. Derrell's Porno Song
7. Dianoga
8. Procreation of the Wicked
9. Oil Removed
10. Made Uncomfortable By Others Pain
11. Flee From Hunger And Disease
12. Starvation
13. Useless
14. A People Defeated
15. Derrell's Porno Song
16. Stagnance
17. Hatred For the Species
18. Friends of Mine
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