Zatokrev, by now, are probably one of Europe’s top sludge bands. I suppose, sludge being such a US-dominated thing, that hints at ‘big fish/small pond’ syndrome. Nonetheless, The Bat, The Wheel, and A Long Road to Nowhere oozes confidence that this is a band that can reach the upper echelons. It’s also a demanding album, though. It lasts 75 minutes, which is a long record by any standards, but especially for a genre in which it’s the norm to maintain a steady mid tempo pulse for entire albums at a time. What’s more, it’s laden with ten minute songs, and very few interludes. So, given that such an epic stretch of churning riffing lies ahead, confidence alone isn’t really enough: we need creativity and verve.

Opener Goddamn Lights, at nine minutes, is definitely an intimidating start. Frederyk Rotter’s hardcore-influenced vocals (they sometimes remind me of Refused) wrestle with guitar riffs which snake along at middling pace. It booms forth with pomp and drama, even boiling down into tribal drum patterns and clean strumming later on for a short spell- as often happens in this short of music. It’s lifted by the sense of melody that is carefully wound through it; the quieter sections are elegant and wistful, while the climax of the piece has soaring leads thrown to the fore. These components prevent it from being too gruelling. This sets a pattern which is largely followed on next track 9, which again drops down into a lone drum thud and again builds into a lead-heavy climax. This time, though, the guitars wail out some genuinely ear-catching lines making much use of bendy effects; it sounds quite loopy, and in consequence the latter half of this track is probably the most interesting and energising passage on the album.

This, perhaps, conveys the overall character of the record, but there are certainly other tracks deserving of mention. Rodeo With Snakes is probably the most straightforwardly enjoyable piece here. It has a huge blues influence to its riffing, which reminds me of Corrosion of Conformity or somesuch, and winds this Southern Rock sensibility into a tight, evocative piece of sludge- superb. Other notable moments include the melodic grace that lends delicacy to the imposing rumble of The Wheel, or the weird, quasi-industrial feel of closer Angels of Cross- a real outlier with its zombified, monotonal vocals. At other points, the album can feel somewhat gruelling, but if you are a more devoted sludge fan than I you will probably cope better with the heavy lifting on tracks like Feel the Fire 1&2 or Medium.