Review Summary: Definitely nothing new or original here but this album will satisfy fans of Mastodon's early days and all the other "new school" sludge bands.
With album art like this, who wouldn't be interested to see how the band sounds? "Full of Hell" is the debut full length of Rhode Island's stoner/sludge quartet, Howl. They definitely try to deliver with the hell but it feels a little stale at times. Through out this album you will hear a ton of riffs that sound pretty similar to those you have heard by HoF, Mastodon and Baroness.
The first track "Horns of Steel" begins with a slow burning riff and evolves into a raging battle roar. The vocals are a bit distant but still pack a gravely punch. It's a nice opener and the first time through the album, I thought they might be onto something. The production is pretty much on, it's not too clean but the drums just seem to sound flat a lot of the time. Overall I think the production fits the style well, just the drums could have more punch. "Jezebel" is one of the better tracks on this album. It kicks off to a nice pace but once the vocals kick in, everything slows down to a hateful crawl. "The Scorpion's Last Sting" sticks out, with the evil tremolo picked intro meeting up with the Matt Pike styled riffery. The closing track, "Day of Rest" is a crushing ten minute onslaught.
"Full of Hell" fulfills what it set out to do but lacks some creativity and veterans of the genre might grow tired of it. It's hard to give this more than a 2.5 but when I think about all the other horrible bands playing "metal" but I was a little tempted. The album really has nothing new to offer and loses what flavor it has pretty fast.
