ALBUM REVIEW: CESSPOOL BY SUNDOWNER

Reviewed by Steph Ure

Release date: 15 October 2026

Three years after Lysergic Ritual, Adelaide sludge merchants Sundowner return with Cesspool, their third full-length album and first release through Melbourne’s Disdain Records. Across ten tracks, the band push the filthy, blues-soaked sludge established on 2021 debut Guns, Knives and Tyre Irons and 2024’s Lysergic Ritual into heavier and increasingly abrasive territory. Reuniting with Jason Fuller of Goatsound Studios for mixing and Dav Byrne of Iridium Audio for mastering, Cesspool carries Sundowner’s ’90s sludge influences while maintaining the hostility that has become distinctly their own.

‘The Deep’ begins with the sound of guitar tuning before dropping into a heavy, grimy riff, the drums filling the spaces between long rhythmic strums. Low, growling vocals complete the combination: gritty, filthy blues meeting metal head-on. Around a minute and a half in, everything steps up another level as the riff quickens and the vocals become louder and clearer. The drums settle into a slow headbanging groove before the track pulls itself back at 3:49, allowing distorted guitar and restrained percussion to take over before the rhythm shifts again. True to its name, ‘The Deep’ takes you on a journey through subtle, unexpected turns and makes for a strong opening to Cesspool.

A clean but punishing guitar riff launches ‘Golden Skinned Gods’ before a scream properly drags us into the song. Sundowner’s swampy blues influence is immediately apparent in the grimy guitar, lurching drum rhythms and off-beats, with the instruments and vocals almost playing tag with one another. Around two minutes in, the vocals drop into an even deeper guttural delivery that warrants only one reasonable response: oooph. The final thirty seconds accelerate again, giving the track one last burst of aggression before it disappears.

‘Grave Wax’ is driven by a repetitive riff from beginning to end, and I dare you not to have it stuck in your head for the next 48 hours. Guitar takes centre stage while the vocals and drums build the weight around it. It’s heavy and dirty, but underneath the aggression sits a tinge of sadness and despair that gives the track considerably more emotional depth than its filthy exterior initially suggests.

Then comes ‘Intoxication Blues’, and this one had me from the beginning. It’s my favourite track on Cesspool. Slow, filthy and absolutely dripping with soul, it distils the poisoned blues at the heart of Sundowner’s sound into one track. The vocals are exceptional, while the instrumentation is allowed to breathe rather than simply competing to become heavier. The final screamed ‘Intoxication Blues’ seals it. This is one of those songs that doesn’t particularly benefit from being explained or defined; it needs to be listened to. It’s an album highlight and an excellent representation of what Sundowner do best.

‘Bleach Sniffer’ shifts attention towards the drums, which arrive heavily and remain a constant presence throughout the track. Against comparatively simple guitar rhythms, percussion and vocals work together to carry the song through changing tempos and create its light and shade. By the halfway point, the guitar properly joins the party and suddenly everybody takes it up another notch. Then, around four minutes, comes a guitar solo that is frankly disgusting and borderline illegal if it weren’t so good for the eardrums. It’s the perfect ending to one of the album’s most musically satisfying tracks.

‘7 Shades of Shit’ enters at a lower register than much of what precedes it, immediately making you sit up and pay attention. Off-beat drums and constantly shifting guitar rhythms pull you further in while the vocals add another layer of grime over the top. Then Sundowner slow everything down to an almost obscene degree. You don’t just hear the heaviness here; you feel it deep in your gut. At roughly 3:40, the tempo suddenly kicks upward, and the change should feel jarring. Somehow, it doesn’t. It simply feels right.

At just under two minutes, ‘Complete and Utter Ruin’ doesn’t waste a second. Opening with that now-familiar sound of guitar tuning and a scream, the track has an almost backyard-grunge quality to it: gritty, messy, unfiltered and incredibly therapeutic. A heavy burst of drums and guitar tears through the middle before it’s all over almost as quickly as it began. Honestly, it doesn’t need another minute. It works precisely because Sundowner know when to stop.

The grit and grime on ‘Unwilling Subjects’ are phenomenal. It’s dirty, heavy and living in your head rent-free after a single listen. Loose, crushing drums and guitar move through rhythms that continually surprise the ear, twisting and turning as the track progresses, while the vocals become the anchor holding the chaos together. The vocal pacing gives the track something solid to orbit while everything underneath threatens to pull itself apart.

That tension makes ‘Unwilling Subjects’ feel different from much of Cesspool. There are enough tempo changes and off-beats here that the track could easily become a mess, yet Sundowner maintain the musical integrity underneath it all with finesse. You feel simultaneously held by the vocals and disrupted by the instrumentation surrounding them. I, for one, am not an unwilling subject to this song.

‘Water Torture’ feels exactly like unsteady water: smooth and chaotic at the same time. The vocals begin in a lower register than we’ve heard through much of the album while repeating guitar riffs and drums create an almost deceptive steadiness underneath. Then, around 1:40, the entire band steps it up and stays there until the end. The track swallows you. By the finish, it feels like you’re drowning in the music and, somehow, you’re completely fine with the water filling your lungs.

‘Pond Scum’ brings Cesspool to a close without losing any of the weight built across the previous nine tracks. It’s heavy and consistent, but more importantly, it’s full of the musicality and emotion that stop Sundowner’s particular brand of sludge from becoming heaviness for heaviness’ sake. The tempo holds you, the vocals give you permission to get angry, and the guitar provides a constant while shifting just enough in tone and pace to remain interesting without overpowering everything around it.

Cesspool is filthy, abrasive and deeply bluesy, but beneath all that grime is a band with a clear understanding of rhythm, restraint and how to make heaviness feel like something. Sundowner aren’t simply throwing distortion at the listener; the constant changes in tempo, unexpected off-beats and spaces between the noise are as important as the noise itself.

I hadn’t heard of Sundowner before being asked to review this album. I honestly am ashamed and have been missing out. You will now find me trawling through Guns, Knives and Tyre Irons and Lysergic Ritual, because they’ve become an immediate new obsession of mine and Cesspool makes a very convincing argument for why they should become one of yours too.