Gathering

Just so that anyone considering this album is aware: the only relation between Horse Latitudes and the Doors is that Horse Latitudes takes its name from a song by the Doors. That doesn’t make the music bad, but it seems relevant to point out. After all, I bought it thinking: ‘Here’s a doom band with 2 bassists, a drummer, and named after a song by the Doors. Might be worth looking into.’

The album itself contains fairly heavy doom. Horse Latitudes’ slow, heavy plodding immediately reminded me of Reverend Bizarre and Electric Wizard. The intro to the last track (Decayment) briefly made me think of ‘Gates of Nanna’ by Beherit.

The vocals are clean for the most part, but often buried in the general murk. That’s not really a problem, but the delivery sometimes seems a bit mechanical.

The best tracks are the third (Gathering), fifth (Decayment), and first (Hornblas), in that order. These songs roll and shamble along well enough. The second track (Seas of Saturn) is capable, with stoner imagery and interesting riffing about mid-way through. Unfortunately, the last couple minutes are a disappointment. The fourth track (Son of the Moon) is a bit unusual in that it has some rough vocals and, disconcertingly, what sounds like an attempt at a Judas- Priest-like outburst.

While the album is competent, it isn’t really on par with bands like Reverend Bizarre or Electric Wizard, but there seems to be potential. This album is heavy and doom-laden to be sure, but could be improved by more brooding and mournfulness. While having 2 bassists is a bit novel, the band might want to flesh out their sound with a guitar and/or some other percussion instruments. For example, I’d like to hear them re-record ‘Seas of Saturn’ with more Sabbath-like riffing.

Overall, I don’t regret the purchase, but it isn’t a must-buy for doom fans.