doom / sludge
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Uh-oh, it looks like there's some fierce competition in the doom metal scene, blatantly aiming for the thrones of Yob and Conan. I don't even think it's a surprise that this competitor hails from Italy. After all, this country has been giving us so many brilliant doom albums in the past few years. Now, the Italians throw another brutal steamroller in our faces, but steamrollers like this one can be thrown into this face every day.
The band doesn't even seem to be that old, according to their facebook page, they only started in 2015. Perhaps in that case, these are the first five tracks they have written and recorded. In a way it also feels like that. While opener 'Branches Of Evil' is pretty much a clone of Conan or Yob (which isn't bad for a new band), 'Eyes Of The Blind Man' shows a growing, attuning band and 'Liar Behind Me' secures that evolution.
'Tornado' is exactly that, a slow motion piece of downtuned guitar noise and thundering drums, intense, immersive and simply pretty fucking awesome. It shows that there's more to Deadsmoke than just being the next in line in the doom scene. Perhaps 'Tornado' is my favorite track on this album but I just love the flow and conceptual feel of this whole thing. It's massively atmospheric, even through the thick layers of riffs and soundscapes.
Besides, Deadsmoke finishes this album with a true ode to doom metal. 'Night Of the Vipers' is a stunning track, where even the sound plugging in the guitars has its place. And isn't that what this whole scene is about? Pure amplifier worship, ecstatic, hypnotic and a little bit insane. I'm already imagining the Belgian edition of Desertfest by the end of the year and I really hope that these guys will be there, grinding over an unexpecting audience and mashing they heads to pulp.
Serge
The band doesn't even seem to be that old, according to their facebook page, they only started in 2015. Perhaps in that case, these are the first five tracks they have written and recorded. In a way it also feels like that. While opener 'Branches Of Evil' is pretty much a clone of Conan or Yob (which isn't bad for a new band), 'Eyes Of The Blind Man' shows a growing, attuning band and 'Liar Behind Me' secures that evolution.
'Tornado' is exactly that, a slow motion piece of downtuned guitar noise and thundering drums, intense, immersive and simply pretty fucking awesome. It shows that there's more to Deadsmoke than just being the next in line in the doom scene. Perhaps 'Tornado' is my favorite track on this album but I just love the flow and conceptual feel of this whole thing. It's massively atmospheric, even through the thick layers of riffs and soundscapes.
Besides, Deadsmoke finishes this album with a true ode to doom metal. 'Night Of the Vipers' is a stunning track, where even the sound plugging in the guitars has its place. And isn't that what this whole scene is about? Pure amplifier worship, ecstatic, hypnotic and a little bit insane. I'm already imagining the Belgian edition of Desertfest by the end of the year and I really hope that these guys will be there, grinding over an unexpecting audience and mashing they heads to pulp.
Serge