Merchant is a band from Australia, Melbourne to be exact. In the past two years this quartet has been building their way up the doom ladder. They shared the stage with acts like Pallbearer, Ithaqua, Horsehunter, Watchtower and Holy Serpent. In four tracks, in all clocking off at about fifty minutes, these guys spew out their guts, accompagnied by torpid sludge metal and cosmic doom. Like I said, "awesome".
The music reminds me of acts like Winter, Yob, Conan, Cough... It's slow, deranged, crushing and methodical, like an ever growing insanity. 'Mourning Light', for example, is a repetitive punching on your skull, before it bursts out in punk-induced sludge metal, finishing the job of breaking your spirit. Or how about the massive title track, a slowly raging beast, uncontrollably rolling through your speakers and into your dreams.
I don't know, I'm just imagining a thick, dark green puddle of sludge oozing out my speakers at this moment. And I like it. I think every fan of psychedelic doom and sludge metal should check out this album, it's an eargasm you can feel in your stomach. This is a brilliant piece of work. I can only hope that these guys will tour the old continent soon, perhaps play Desertfest or so. I can't wait to see this live...
​Serge