November is Doom- Liminal Spirit :"Unwell"

 

Jerry from Northless helms this odd, doom-centered album, which features angular pulses of guitar and a weird, lo-fi mix that has a swathe of samples and other sounds pass through, like forgotten ghosts in a house they are too depressed to haunt. That said, there is also an element that reminds me of Frank Zappa in how the weird is orchestrated. The second song is heavier, but it finds the band more focused on a sound instead of songs, which comes from the claim that this album tells a story. I don't hear anything but dense gardens of opaque riffs challenging my ears. 

They continue down this path to an even more progressive free jazz, like churning with synths up and in your face on the third song. If these are programmed drums, which they are supposed to be, then this must have been a chore, as they do not carry a set pattern; it also could play against the hooks that these arrangements might have had if we had at least been given some semblance of groove. This is the project's third album, so it is clear that some things are more well-defined than others. The trippy hole it goes down at least is dark enough for me to appreciate.

I can hear where the industrial claims are coming from, but do not feel there is enough on "EOLC' to warrant it, and even one industrial-tinged song on an album does not take away from being more of an ambient post-doom band. The first attempt at filling the vocal space is done with a vocoder that gives a more futuristic touch to the angular pound of the last song that drones, and feels like a drugged-out version of Cynic. I will give this album an 8, since it's at least original, and  there is an audience for it, it is just not song-oriented for me to give it repeat listens 

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Rezn : "Solace"

 

The fourth album from this amazing band out of Chicago. The opening track is an instrumental that drones with a trippy vibe that carries exotic chord phrasings that make you feel like the drugs are already kicking in.  There are lots of well-layered sounds that sit in a much darker place than what you expect from psychedelic music, which is perfect for me. This perfection multiplies when they stop jamming around a get into the swirl of their songs which finds an androgynous tenor vocal weaving melodies around this. The music creeps more often than not, and they do not forget they are more of a doom metal band and remember to pack the big crunching riffs. This is doom but without any Sabbath worship.

"Reversal" comes to life with a slower creep to life. The narcotic throb focuses most of its intent on hypnotizing you. "Stasis" finds them crunching down with a sludge-like weight. What is interesting is how vocals change everything here. If this was another lumberjack grunting, it would sound more like everything else, but with these more androgynous vocals, it creates its own space. The atmosphere takes over "Faded and Fleeting" with the sax that comes in being a cool touch to help ground things from floating off into the ether.

A darker intensity is cast over "Webbed Roots" which lingers somewhere in the space between a steamy shoe gaze and doom. Here doom is a cloud building into the storm, rather than the overt crunch. The guitar works off an almost Cure-like tone. Given my tastes, I of course am all about that sort of thing. Though at the three-minute mark, I am wondering where this can go for another five minutes. The ambiance takes over the momentum. It builds up in a manner that is consistent for these guys. However, I can say when I leave this album on and just let it play, it is hard to tell when it has started over, as the last song ends where the album begins. I will give this album a 9.5, and see how it grows on me, one of my faves this year so far.

Kylesa : "Exhausting Fire"

Just when Deafheaven thought they were not going to have any competition this week the new Kylesa drops. The beginning of "Blood Moon" makes you think they are picking right back up at the same dark place they left off at, but then it launches into metal, that they are singing over rather than barking. Three minutes in a they drop back into the dark Doors like place. The opening riff to "Crusher" lives up to its name. Laura voice continues to evolve, the singing overall is stepping into a more confident direction. They drift back into the dark spaced out place and build back up into a some what sludged out riff. At this point it's clear they are neck and neck with Mastodon and have surpassed Baroness.

"Falling" the psychedelics prevail here. They used to cover Pink Floyd, so this side of the band should come as not surprise.  Laura's vocals have a more Siouxsie like croon to them. They find trippy groove that is more surreal than it jam band like. The solo slides in underneath the brief rumble. "Growing Roots" has an angular swagger to it, builds into more Hum like space rock. It eventually winds up into a more rock groove that some how manages to feel more like Kylesa . The more muscularly rumbling "Inward Debate", feels more like a Clutch riff and is a little on the busy side. So it's good they back off into what on first listen struck me as one of the better songs, because it has all the elements they excel at firing at full power. There is a really mean metal riff that lashes out from the more subdued vocal Laura exudes.

Next up is the fuzz out sonic "Moving Day" that reminds me a little of a Pixies song. The vocals have a more post-punk apathy on "Night Drive". The bass tone gets really weird. Laura's vocal become plaintive to the point they would not sound out of place on an indie rock album. There is more of a stoner metal chug to "Out of My Mind" that drifts in a cloud of bong smoke out into space. They continue to  converge back into the more metal chug after their spacey explorations threaten to drift out of orbit. The bass player goes into Geezer Butler mode on a midway into the song."Paranoid" is a drugged out cover of the Sabbath classic that finds the band bringing their own touch to it. It works for me at this tempo.

They close the album with the heavier yet very Sabbath like "Shaping the Southern Sky" . Laura says she is throwing caution to the wind and taking her chances again here. It does wander off into a more heady direction with the bass line holding down the fort. They bring the smack down when they lock back in for the happy ending that blazes out with solos in true rock god/goddess fashion. This one is easily rounded up to a ten as it

10.7

Electric Wizard: "Time to Die"

Once a upon a time this might have been considered black metal even though we now know it to be doom. The opening horror movie like sample sets a darker tone for the U.K. band.They have lost none of their powerful rumble and as doom grows desolate with each release trying to suffocate the band before them Electric Wizard has shown up to hold their ground. The ten minute opening track track sets the bar high for the rest of the album.The chant of "We Wanna get high / before we die" comes before the title that follows,so death is one of the album primary topics. The title track is less sprawling. The band has a tighter grip on their doom like attack. The vocals are more of an after thought here, and the song feels more like a jam despite being more singular in purpose than the opener. In some ways this reminds me more of classic St. Vitus, particularly in the arrangement.

They come back stronger on the 11 minute opus "I Am Nothing". Slower paced in it's rumble,with a vocal chant holding it's center. The song eventually launches into a sonic cosmos, where bands like Hawkwind tend to soar in their psychedelia. The fiendish samples return on "Destroy Those Who Love God". Here they take on a creepier sludge sound scape. The use of the organs set back in the mix are extremely effective in conjuring visions of the Manson Family paying Sharon Tate a late night visit. This is more of an interlude, but is still very entertaining in the picture it paints. They return to the death theme, this time with a more cerebral slant on "Funeral in Your Mind". The guitars take on a more seventies rock "We Love the Dead" carries a drugged out sluggish shamble to it's morbid declaration. The verses on this song are spacious. There is a less oppressive weight pounding down on you here. In this manner they look back to more traditional doom that came out of the 80's.
The rock groove keep coming with "SadioWitch". This sinister whine of the vocals continues to keep it's grim narrative in a similar fashion as it seem to stick with when not launching into a maddening chant. The lyrics are clearer here and seem to be comparing love to drugs. The love of drugs is certainly a prime element to the conception of this album.

"Lucifer's Slaves"   takes on a slightly more sinister ambiance, though it rumbles forward at a pace not unlike what the band has already established. It only slows further drag the dirge into the dirt of it's fresh grave. This had has employed more effective melodies in the past than they seem to be doing here , so I'm not sure if they feel they must offer up melody on the altar of sacrifice in order to be heavy. The bass is really the only instrument that wanders off to break away from the drone and do something interesting with it's fills. "Saturn Dethroned" is more of just and outro that might as well be a part of "Lucifer's Slaves" as it doesn't really do anything but let the keyboard have their moment in the spotlight, that could have taken place within the confines of any of these songs to have made them more dynamic.I'll give this album an 8. The weight of it catches you by surprise at first and lures you into it's orgy of black magic, but the longer you stick around for this party the more you begin to sober up and question the song writing. If you love these guys , then you will continue to do so, as like Motorhead, they are continuing to give you more of what you want from them.

Megaton Leviathan : "Past 21 Beyond the Arctic Cell"

The eerie 13 minute opener sails by on cold waters. Chilling chant like vocals echo out from the depths of the song. This doom but it comes across heavier in an emotional sense than a metallic one. Where most doom is very oppressive, with the low end weighing the song down, these guys are very spacious. I ma not sure if this is psychedelic, though cerebral. The grandiose strings that come in toward the end are more like something from King Crimson's "In the Wake of Poseidon album, some by more progressive, though it would even be difficult to define it as that since the song doesn't really have any changes just lumbering off the same tearful riff.

On "the Foolish Man " I am reminded of the new Earth album, but these guys have a higher success rate than Earth, they allow the drone to hypnotize with out limiting themselves to a numbing repetition.Exotic scales trickle off the plodding. This is done with a tad more sluggishness on "Arctic Cell" that pounds into things a little more like you would expect from a doom band. The vocals on "the Foolish Man" have a drugged mumble to them. Hey, it worked for Iron Butterfly, "Inna Gadda Divida" was supposed to be ..."in the garden of Eden, but they were too fucked up, so it comes with the territory. The gloom that coats this album does begin to grow on me more with each listen and I think the cool wandering passages of guitar that coast by in the back ground attribute to this.Arctic Cell progresses there are some very cleverly written punches and chugs scattered about the vast wasteland of a song. The staccato chug at the eight minute mark, helped bring the metal back.Building until the siren like female vocals bring in the dreamy tide around the crescendo.

It's hard to tell if the cover of Judas Priest's "Here Comes the Tears " is just plain terrible and they are out of their depth on this one or if they are going for a more death-rock take on this. The reason for this is that they do have a creepy under current running under their music and if some one like Atriarch did this I would approve.The almost goth like baritone vocals gurgle up on"Arctic Cell" , so it could go either way. Whatever the case the vocals are lacking, but I'm going to pretend they are going for more of a Pinkish Black thing here than become repulsed, they get points for being dark and busting out a decent solo.    

This album continues to grow on me so I will round it up to a 9, though this album is like creeper weed, so over time some of the elements I'm not as sure of I will warm up to.  It's fair to guess if you like atmospheric doom, that indulges in the psychedelic ambiance to the point it almost smokes the metal out of it, then you will be similarly impressed.