Amarok : "Resilience"

 

This is the California-based band's second album. They are overindulgent as the only song that does not sprawl over the ten-minute mark is an interlude. The opening track goes over that line by seven minutes.  What this means is it is not an album I am likely going to listen to more than once, but let's see how well they do this sort of thing. The vocals trade off from an angry howl to a low death metal gurgle more typical of the funeral sub-genre of doom. The opening track is seventeen minutes of mournful guitar melody serenading a casket being lowered into the charred earth. At the seven-minute mark, it breaks down in a manner that would make sense for the next ten minutes to be another track. All the sounds you might want from this sub-genre are in place, but aside from the atmospheric lull of depression, there is nothing to hook you in.  Thirteen minutes in they do build to a pretty cool riff, but the rule here is ... cool riffs alone does not a good song make. They could have plotted the course to it in a more efficient manner. 

The second song is even longer than the first. It starts like the first song by easing into things for a melodic yet anguished take on funeral doom, they drag the body through a similar misty mire that was traversed on the first song. The drone on with it for longer as the first song had already faded into something else seven minutes in, though it's not far from that time period when things begin to build into a heavier pound, meaning that their musical attention spans last for seven minutes, which is longer than most bands and they do stay committed to the path they are on.  The guitar begins to take on more of a blackened buzz as the drums pound harder beneath it. The ten-and-a-half-minute mark is where they could have transitioned into another song so that part is consistent. 

There is a little more of a compromise with "Penance" which has more weight in the lumber of its sorrowful chug. Sure it's 14 minutes of this, but with the heavier dynamic works of the three songs we have heard from these guys, there is a sludge influence but they are still a doom band, no matter how much angry scowling the vocals unleash. Though it follows the same path toward more blackened waters as the first song. The last song balances a moody sullen melody with the catharsis of the screamed and gurgled vocals, though it mainly drones off variations of a theme. This albums sounds great and they keep the songs moving enough to not get mired down in some of the conventions of the genre, though they could also use more restraint to keep things compact, that might have made for a more compelling listen I would be prone to revist, however if you are a funeral doom fan you might be ok with droning long winded writing so I will give this album an 8.5, as they made the album they set out which is a worthwhile listen.

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