This came out in 2001 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
These Boston sludge-merchants have two kinds of songs: 1) Nine and 10-minute long doom-laden epics of slo-mo destruction and horror, with titles like Black Acid Prophecy, molasses-slow grooves and subatomic grinding that makes The Melvins seem like The Monkees; and 2) Minute-long, vaguely-exotic-in-a-Tea-Party-kinda-way instrumental vignettes that seem to exist primarily to prevent As Heaven Turns to Ash from being a five-song album that lasts 50 minutes.
Instead, it’s a nine-song disc that clocks in at 56 minutes. Still, that’s an average song length of six punishing minutes and change. If that doesn’t seem like a long time to you, try holding a regulation bowling ball directly above your head for that long. Actually, that’s a lot like listening to this album — sooner or later, you just know your skull is gonna cave right in.
