Bathos

I saw this disc described as very trippy and avantgarde stuff, and because that is my thing, I decided to give it a shot. I was a little disappointed at first, because I was expecting something in the vein of a slow UneXpect or Carnival in Coal. This feeling was even stronger when I saw the strange multilingual track names and lyrics, often written in a very abstract way.

I must say that the content is very calm, even for a doom release. The disc has a dark tone to it at times, but has absolutely no aggresion it the sound. The sound can be described only as mystical, the feeling being made even stronger by Master Warjomaa's alchemist and esoteric inspirations. I have seen many attempts to describe the band's sound and it's closest to Progressive-Folk-Doom metal. (lacking the metal elements at times)

I like the diversity of genres and huge amount of experimentation and genre-hopping, as I love the way they are incorporated in the sound. From the Gothic Doom of the track "The Thunder, Perfect Mindfuck", through the weird and ever-changing "Niut Net Meru", to the latin-styled second half of "Mental Fugue" (it also has a very cool electronic intro), all the hundreds of stylistic changes sound very natural are very fitting the disc's uniqueness. So two thumbs up for the songwriting.

The sound and production is, however, what drops this album down. The guitar tone is pretty dull and the synths sound too simplistic. This makes the disc boring and repetitive at repeated listens, and it's the primary reason why this doesn't get a 90 or higher.

All in all, I would recommend buying it if you like prog doom, because that's what this actually is, if you don't, download some songs and see what you think. I will however definately look forward to the sophomore album that is coming soon.


BEST TRACKS: "The Thunder, Perfect Mindfuck", "Kesayo"