Among the least regrettable purchases I’ve made this year is Toner Low, III — the Dutch trio’s heaviest and stonedest album yet. The three-piece occupy a region of low end that few can claim to know. Conan, Ufomammut sometimes, and that’s pretty much it. III is the first new Toner Low album since 2008’s II, and I was fortunate enough to be able to grab a CD copy at this year’s Roadburn. It’s been caving my skull in ever since.

It doesn’t happen very often, but every now and again I encounter a record for which the volume — whatever it might currently be — never seems like enough. Toner Low‘s III isn’t without its droning moments, harkening back to what the second album brought in terms of development from the more straightforwardly Sleep-derived 2006 self-titled debut, but one needs only to look at the bright, vivid, weedian imagery of the artwork (awash in secret, intricate hieroglyphs and containing the sound advice, “listen to Ween“) to get a beginning semblance of where the band is coming from. The four extended tracks — titled as “Phase Six” through “Phase Nine” — are no less stoned.

Mostly instrumental throughout their course, Toner Low nonetheless work in a few shouts on the opening “Phase Six” from guitarist Daan, before his voice like the rest of the universe gets swallowed in the seemingly unstoppable churn of low end. They keep a solid clip in the 10-minute opener (also the shortest track on III) but ride an ultra-slow lurch for most of the first half of “Phase Seven” before devolving the piece from its rumbling crash to minimal bass malevolence from Miranda and sporadic guitar notes while drummer Jack takes a break until just before the seven-minute mark, at which point he marches in the thick swirl of one of III‘s most righteous grooves, which they continue to push until well past 11 minutes in, at which point the swarming noise and effects take over and become abrasive at points, only to be drowned out by the re-emergent riff. Once again, like the rest of the universe.

Even at their slowest, most plodding point, Toner Low aren’t lacking movement, and that remains true in the subdued opening of “Phase Eight,” which begins with the guitar and drums before the bass returns to hint at some of the massiveness to come. Both Toner Low and II had their quiet moments, but here the trio uses the atmospheric take as the beginning point for an effective build, a wash of static gradually mounting with the rumble, airy guitar and steady drum beat, before at 3:45, the bass claims the lead position as the guitars wander off, and even Jack and Miranda come to an eventual halt before bringing the song to full impact just past five minutes into its total 13. The tonal brunt unveiled, the only thing left to build is the pace, and the trio sets to it almost immediately, winding up in a gear similar to that of the opener, but sounding more unhinged as the track shakes itself apart back to the initial guitar line and (relatively) peaceful feel.

Fall for it at your peril. Closer “Phase Nine” clocks in at 17:47 and is practically an album unto itself, with psychedelic effects, more of Miranda‘s ultra-low bass and the distinct impression that the only reason Toner Low didn’t decide to play this riff for an hour solid was they got bored and decided to get a snack instead. To call it Dopesmoker-worthy doesn’t feel like overstating it, though after the vibrations doled out by III‘s first three tracks, the last one might get lost on already-dazed listeners. If you need to break the record up into multiple sessions, it’s worth it. At 4:27, the band shifts into fuller motion, guitars spacing out over the consistent, hypnotic repetitions, and with a slowdown, drone-out and open-sounding section with vocals, they set the stage for a payoff riff that carries them past 12 minutes, at which point the song commences its own destruction, pushed past whatever sonic event horizon, into a surprising final few minutes of piano that are the finishing point.

A simple rule for life is anytime you run into a Toner Low record, you should buy it. In the case of III — which is out through an allegiance between the band’s own Roadkill Rekordz, Kozmik Artifactz and Freebird Records — it was one I knew I wanted even before I heard the first note, and I continue to be astounded that the three-piece can both be that heavy and manage to make the songs move at all. One listen to their tones and it just seems like something so mammoth a human being shouldn’t be able to make it go. But they do, when they choose to, and III winds up a listen that satisfies as much as it pummels. And that’s saying something, because this shit is seriously pummeling. Not to be missed.

Toner Low, III (2013)

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