TarLung (Axis Mundi)

11 minutes ago
5 min read

Released: 2026

Genre: Sludge

Sounds Like: Crowbar, Bongzilla, Church of Misery

Homeland: Austria

What makes Axis Mundi elite and sit atop OHMs Peak?

Axis Mundi is another outstanding chapter in the TarLung saga. The album is packed with raw sludge, and they may have surpassed themselves with this release.
The vocals remain in classic TarLung style—guttural and sludgy—but they occasionally incorporate clean vocal styles. This welcome contrast broadens their sound.
The production highlights each band member's unique style: intricate bass work, steady drumming, and intense rhythmic riffs.

Track Listing:

Static Noise 4:25
The Valley Of Nowhere 4:42
Burning Out 6:10
Sea Of Drowned Souls 4:20
Swans 4:11
Full Circle 4:17
Between Earth And Moon 5:17
Axis Mundi 5:21

Dive deeper into Axis Mundi with our Q&A with TarLung.

OHMs Peak: As you may already know, we have been fans since your debut album, and your music continues to expand all while keeping to your signature style. Would love for a brief glimpse into your process and time commitment in making the album.

TarLung: Many thanks for giving us a chance to talk about our music! OHMs Peak (and before that Rotation11) have been great supporters of our band from day one. We really do appreciate that passion in underground music!

In general, we have a rather unregular rehearsal schedule. Mostly because everyone has their own busy schedule and life, but we try to find as much time to play and do rehearsals together as possible. We mostly go in with a general concept for a song based on an idea one of us had. We then work together over multiple rehearsals to fine-tune, add and subtract elements to finally get something we all are comfortable to play and stand behind.

In the case of ‘Axis Mundi’ it took us roughly 3 years. But the first song ideas started to form even before we released our 2021 album ‘Architect’. We recorded ‘Axis Mundi’ at DDP studios the week before Christmas 2024. Finding the right partner and planning the release took up the better half of a year until everything was ready. Now, we are very happy to have the support of Argonauta Records for this release – it’s a great label with really cool bands on it, and we are very pleased that it has worked out this way!

OHMs Peak: The music is so addictive with your distinctive raw sludge that only TarLung can produce. What influences does each band member bring to the table to create such an engaging heavy music?

TarLung: Thank you for saying that! We have quite diverse influences. Naturally, there’s classic Doom, Stoner and Sludge bands, but there’s also a healthy dose of old school Death Metal and some influences like Death, Entombed or Dismember.

Two of our band – Marian and Philipp - are also founding members of BLACK AIR, which sounds somewhat like (Dylan Carson’s) Earth, so that might have had some influences of that kind of music trickling down to TARLUNG as well. On top of that our drummer plays in TORPEDO TORPEDO, Vienna’s greatest Heavy Psych outfit, in our humble opinion. (Thanks Clemens ;) – Marian)

OHMs Peak: It's nearly impossible to think of a standout track on Axis Mundi, but tunes like "Burning Out," "Sea of Drowned Souls" and "Full Circle" seem to shine with the expanded vocals; we love the contrast. How did this vocal style come to formation?

TarLung: It was cool to do the growling distorted vocals for a total of 5 releases. But after doing that for over a decade, we thought of changing our approach a bit. Might be that we grew older and had more exposure to heavy music that doesn’t rely only on a screaming or growling kind of vocal style. Furthermore, we like to also push ourselves for each new release, learn new stuff, expand our horizon – and that includes trying different things with vocals as well as the instruments.

OHMs Peak: What band NOT in the sludge genre would you love to tour with that would most compliment your sound?

TarLung: Oh man that is a tough question. I guess bands like Blood Incantation, Amenra, Arabrot, Russian Circles, Cave In … come to mind. We are generally open to play and tour with any kind of band, as long as the members are easy going and don’t have a ‘rockstar’ attitude. Life is too short for dealing with difficult characters, and we prefer to hang out with chill people. Best example are our tour buddies and now friends Mares Of Thrace from Canada. Trez and Casey are two of the most awesome people we had the pleasure to share the stage with.

OHMs Peak: We absolutely love the album cover as it ties in well to your music. Is there any meaning behind the artwork and who is the artist?

TarLung: Thank you, we love how the cover turned out! We wanted a representation of the world on the brink of destruction, revealing mechanical contraptions and a skull within. It’s like an allegory of the everyday struggle in an uncaring cold world that tries to grind you down. We all have to face this in one way or another. In the end, it turned out to look very Warhammer 40k-ish, and we loved that! There are also some Warhammer 40k references in the lyrics, so the cover fits the album like a glove.

The artist is Alex Eckmann-Lawn. He is a fantastic artist from the US. He did amazing work for the Smashing Pumpkins, Inter Arma, Imperial Triumphant, Abbath and many more. Alex also designed all our full- length album covers since 2017, so Alex is also responsible for giving ‘Beyond the Black Pyramid’ and ‘Architect’ the amazing cover art we hold so dear.

OHMs Peak: TarLung is stranded on an island with only a solar powered turntable and majestic powered solar blue tooth speakers. The band collectively can only choose one album. Which album to you agree to?

TarLung: That is a very tough question. After long and hard thinking we might go with Hegy – ‘We Won’t Make It Home’ – a Hungarian band we played with on our 2023 tour in Budapest. They are from that beautiful city and truly blew us away. What awesome music, great live performance and awesome humble people! After that show their album was on heavy rotation on our bus for the rest of the tour. Also, the album title seemed quite fitting to us.

TarLung are:

Rotten – Guitars

Philipp Seiler – Guitars & Vocals

Marian Waibl – Drums.

Additional bass guitar by Lukas Haidinger.

Additional vocals on ‘Sea of Drowned Souls’ by Thérèse Lanz and Casey Rogers

Follow TarLung: Instagram / Facebook