House Of Lud, Under The Surface, Daughters Of St. Crispin at BarleyPop Live

House Of Lud has gone through a few iterations since it began as a solo doom-metal outing from Troy Peterson, who’s also known for the varied electronic music and occasional off-the-wall antics of his project Kleptix. For a while, House Of Lud took the form of a powerful live trio, recording the 2018 album Olden Void. The project’s latest release, The Crooked And Thorny Path Of Reckoning, features a different three-piece lineup: moving from guitar to bass, Peterson is joined by Joe Cummings on drums and Nick Venechuk on guitar. 

Throughout all this, House Of Lud has channeled its lumbering riffs through a lens that’s austere, murky, and (as the band’s name might suggest) in willful retreat from the modern world. Peterson tells Tone Madison that House Of Lud has “receded back into the shadows to write the best music we can, and rehearse the best live set we can play, and basically not talk about it whatsoever.” —Scott Gordon

The Crooked and Thorny Path of Reckoning by House of Lud Illustration by Shaysa Sidebottom.