After nearly 35 years, sludge-metal heavyweights 16 continue to reshape the definition of heavy with their latest release, Guides For The Misguided.
San Diego sludge-metal veterans 16 refuse to mellow with age. Instead, they double down on the punishment with Guides For The Misguided, a brutal, unflinching record that pushes their primordial mix of despair, rage, and bone-crushing heaviness to apocalyptic new lows.
Frontman Bobby Ferry, still leading the charge he helped start in 1992, delivers his most visceral performance yet, barking out tales of anguish and self-destruction like a man attempting to exorcise demons. On “Proudly Damned,” Ferry’s guttural snarl collides with a wall of distortion as he wails, “To defile and offend / These are the demons found within,” throwing down the gauntlet for an album that hits hard and refuses to pull a single punch.
Backing Ferry is a rhythm section that sounds like a landslide in slow motion. Drummer Dion Thurman pounds his kit like he’s driving nails into a coffin, while guitarist Alex Shuster and bassist Barney Firks conjure a sound so thick and low it feels seismic. It’s a virulent mix of sludge, hardcore, and raw, no-frills rock. It’s pure 16, refined and distilled to its heaviest essence.
Closing track “Kick Out The Chair” is a bleak but fitting sendoff, a moment of sobering self-reflection that’ll linger with you long after you stop spinning the record. If this album proves anything, it’s that 16 aren’t interested in looking back. Their path remains as unrelenting and clear as ever. Guides For The Misguided is a record that sounds dark but can give you life, from a band that refuses to die.