Recommended by Kyle on the night of a thousand recommendations (or eight, still!)
Word is this is Stoner Metal / Doom Metal, and accordingly, I was actually expecting something a lot darker and gloomier and more insistent in its desolation. In practice, sure, its really repetitive, and the vocals are screamy, and the guitars heavy and jagged, but I didn't actually find it all /that/ unpleasant.
There's two main elements here: 1) the bass groove, which is clear, insistent, and ever-present; and 2) everything else. The everything-else is all distorted guitars, drones, noise and vocals, though crucially, the latter is low in the mix. In most metal, the music lays down a foundation and the vocals are at the fore on top of it. In this, the vocals are buried in the mix, gasping to the surface here and there, in perfect balance with everything else. Its more shoegaze with an eternal bass groove heart than it is metal, and the effect is strangely hypnotic. The obvious reference point here is Bosis's Pink, and I'm certainly fond of that album.
Sure, its pretty dark. And at least a little unpleasant. And its not an everyday album by any stretch. But I found myself grinning while it was on, and thinking about it afterwards, so I'm going to call that a win, and a 4.5/5
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