Swallowed : "Lunarterial"

The first full length from this spastic doom band out of Finland. The eruptive elements right from the first song "Reverence Through Darkness" makes you wonder if doom can really be a fair tag for this .It features two members of Desolator, who lets face it you don't know so it's a mute point. This shit is crazy, almost in a manner Aevangelist lost their mind in. The first song leaves you shaking your head, so when they slow down for a more angular yet willfully amorphis vibe on the next song, you are wondering if this is all smoke and mirrors because they can't write a song with any cohesion.The black metal burst disqualify them from being a doom metal band, they are too frequent and they indulge in them more too long to be doom.

They do capture the sort of sounds like make for powerful doom on "Black Aura" , but you can't help but speculate as to when their metal add is going to kick in.The vocals are a harsh rasp more like black metal in the scathing way they are gasped.Finland is a notorious drinking country so I am sure that element factored in when this was conjured together. Six minute into "Black Aura " a solo frenzy erupts like sharks on meth.The slouch back down into doom, like a bi-polar person coming off a manic high.It would be cool to hear what they could do if they set out to make a doom album, but can they retain focus is the question.

They creep into "Black Phlegm" at a very traditional doom pace.History tells us these guys will go spastic at any moment so don't trust their more interesting digs into the dark.It might be the drummer's fault. He is talented, but is always moving under even the slower sections. Sometimes too busy for his own good. At last they stick with something long enough to try and let us see what they really sound like.The sixteen minute "Libations' which confirms my drinking theory, closes out the album.  At 25 minutes this song is longer than most punk albums. They surprise me again and stay somewhat focus on this dirge for the first six minutes allowing it to build organically rather than jerking it around until the pull out the blast beats right after they cross the 6 min mark.As with many songs this length it starts to drone off into the distance and become background music, though to their credit they do return to a sluggishly tormented doom.Their weirdness pays off at the 20 minute mark, but then they smother you in it and lose all form and function. I'll give this a 7.5, and more pot might solve the problems this album runs into .