For once the words accompanying the promo sheet were right on the money. Indeed, Seattle trio Hissing are traumatizing in their delivery on the eponymous EP.

The mixture of death, black and sludge, Cairn greets the listener with an avalanche of chaos. Sound boulder upon sound boulder, the resemblance of order does arrive eventually, but only to greet us by staring at the bottom of an ugly pit. There is miasma in there, and no matter how much we are trying to squeeze it in its place, it just boils over, spewing forth its rotten insides, creating uncomfortable unsettled feeling.

The second track Husk has an atmosphere of sacrament and mystery, but I have a feeling I'm not welcome at this mystical ritual, where dark voices whisper and, yes, hiss, invoking spirits not too savory. To me the EP sounds a bit like a heavier sludgier Blut Aus Nord, Hissing conjuring their dark muck a few layers below the French.