Stockport sludge experimenters, Under, last released an album in 2018. Two split records and an EP sufficed during this eight-year quiet period, but now they’re back with their third LP and weirder than ever. What Happened in Roundwood is a pleasure to analyse.
You know this’ll be a strange record in the first sixty seconds of ‘Tantrum’. A divergent guitar and drum rhythm progresses like an alarm clock buzzing in a biscuit tin as the vocals make their way into the mix. Imagine noise rockers mclusky with the mindset of the Melvins. The bass provides the low end for most of the action until they break into a monstrous doom metal ritual at 02:30. At no point can you be sure how it might evolve. Screaming vocals sit next to chanted harmonies; a sludgy guitar works hard to hide its sinister impulses.
You won’t find any lazy stoner metal here. The slow tempo material comes wrapped in out-of-key scale formations. It’s a relief to hear a grungy guitar and bass distortion encircled in a slow drum beat in ‘The Alchemist’, yet you soon realise that even this thrives on off-meter timings. Listen to the chords sizzle under the weight of the snare hits. We’d be thrilled if Neurosis returned with something like this song. And, of course, the tom drum rituals are important to something that tries hard to second-guess you. ‘Isaac’ is husky in the vocal delivery but less constrained in its improvised guitar intervals. Killing Joke’s trademark dissonance finds a new perspective here in the peaks and troughs of sludge metal.
Most bands in this style would ask the bassist to lay down the riffs while the guitar explores the things no music teacher would countenance. The effect is to create a Frank Zappa-meets-doom metal paradox that’s hard to enjoy on first lesson. A second and third spin will help you understand it better. The trio’s ability to find melody in the haze is as impressive as their progressive approach to sludge metal. Can you feel the vigour of their ghostly harmonies pass through your body like a sharp breeze in ‘Escape Roundwood’? The aggression bristling underneath the surface of the noisy arpeggios finds its outlet at the three-minute mark and then wanders into a tiptoe of bass fuzz and delay-heavy chords.
It’s easy to see why this is their first album in eight years – you don’t write something as challenging as this in twelve months. Eerie bass notes shadow the voice in ‘Rings’ like Tool’s experiments with post-rock on their 10,000 Days LP from 2006. Noise clouds hover in the background like rising heat. Drum fills work their way in at sporadic intervals. Throat strains intensify under the competing instruments, none of which dare to dominate. A nauseous imbalance creeps up on you in the messy noise rock of ‘Roots and Limbs’, but the way all three instruments alter their speed and dynamics in the same riff is a testament to the trio’s technical ability.
Circus music filtered through the off-kilter sludge of the Melvins is the easiest way to describe closing track, ‘Felling’, but that doesn’t do it justice. Here, Under approach their art like jazz improv musicians, yet they stick to their vocal lines with avid discipline despite the many tempo changes and non-repeating passages. You’ll want to select the play button to start the whole process again. What the hell is this music?
Kirk Houghton
Verdict
Release Date: 23/01/2026
Record Label: APF Records
Standout tracks: The Alchemist; Escape Roundwood; Felling
Suggested Further Listening: Melvins – Stag (1996), mclusky – The World is Still Here and so are We (2025), Neurosis – Times of Grace (1999)