Release Date April 12th, 2026
Format CD/Digital
Genre Ambient Soundscapes, Exploratory Psych, Drone
Origin USA
Slow Draw is the long-running solo project of Mark Kitchens, one third of Stone Machine Electric. He focuses heavily on drone, ambient, and psychedelia. Following the 2025 release "The People’s Department Of Governmental Checks & Balances", Kitchens returns with "Burnt Counters". This new album goes down a dark, deeply personal path. Looking at the bleak visual aesthetic and listening to the draining sounds within, there are moments I want to open my veins and let the misery pour out.
The music dumps a ton of drawn-out fuzz and slow drones on your head. You get a full band setup in the studio mixing exploratory psych elements with heavy distortion. The guitars ring out endlessly in a very deliberate manner. Sometimes it works to create a massive, crushing wall of feedback. Other times, the execution drags on into pure monotony, leaving you checking your watch. It takes immense patience to sit through the entire run.
Songs like "Entrances & Exits" and "As I Stare" drown you in a depressing, isolating atmosphere. The fuzz is loud. The drums crash far in the background. The main issue is the lack of memorable riffs or driving energy. Drone and ambient metal need a hook or a specific atmosphere to keep a listener engaged. Here, the tracks often wander off without delivering a satisfying payoff. You get a lot of noise and distortion. You get very little substance to chew on.
Tracks such as "Walk In The Woods With Dad" and "Roadblock" continue the same gloomy trajectory. The pacing is agonizingly slow. The personal nature of the music is obvious. It translates into a relentlessly exhausting listening session. It demands too much from the listener for too little reward. The heavy, distorted nightmare fuel rarely ignites into a proper inferno.
"Burnt Counters" caters to a very specific state of mind. If you want to rot in a dark room and soak in absolute sorrow, Slow Draw delivers the soundtrack. For the rest of us looking for killer riffs or engaging songwriting, it falls short of the mark. It serves as decent background noise. It simply lacks the necessary fire to make it a mandatory listen.
Score: 6.0
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