Samara

Samara - not to be to confused with the Seattle doom outfit by the same name - is a so-called sludge/doom/hardcore act wafting out of Altoona, Pennsylvania which digs introducing its tracks with nefariously disconcerting but oh-so-cool horror themed sound bites announcing mad tidings in the form of seething, putrid vocals and begrimed if not downright angry and cutting instrumentation at risk of curdling mustard. Swell!

At first I wasn’t sure I was going to make it through the septet’s off-the-wall repertoire of six strangely provocative tracks as the ungainly vocals came as a shock; funnily enough though, they readily suit the organic, lo-fi level of production and overall “garage-days” feel – although this last perception may be partially due to the band logo.

The guitar tones are rather fresh, in their own rotten way I suppose, whilst the drums wholly kept me on my toes, if not squash them outright. The wholesale, thumping beats of “Wake Up” remind me of a particular, disheveled crack head from back in the day at the corner of Main & Hastings (a.k.a. “Pain & Wastings”) in Vancouver who’d erratically smack his palms all day and most of the night against an up-turned coffee can for pennies (he wouldn’t accept any other currency!). “Snap” is another such humdingbat, although much longer and elaborate at 7.5. minutes, which gets down to the nitty-gritty with some excruciatingly slow and foreboding E. Wiz style down-tuned bends. What's more, the rawly incremental riffing in between makes me think of a gnashing zombie football pile-up with fluorescent overhead lights on...eventually a sardonic swing-boogie ensues as the thwacking drum beats evoke more zombies hitting an organ-filled piñata with disembodied arms, legs and what-have-you. It’s definitely festive, especially when more tribal tom-toms overtake the Grinch-y guitars.

I also can’t get enough of the vicious and vituperative intro to “I Caligula”: “It’s daddy shithead! Where’s my bourbon?!” Although the line re-occurs throughout, the next time it’s so muffled it sounds like “Hey shithead! Where’s my burger?!” Haha! Now, I know the extensive line-up lists Bob on drums with team Rug/Ryan as axe minions but what’s up with the four “unknowns”? Someone has to be responsible for the droning bass so I’m assuming there are three yawpers at work? To be sure the lean and mean, Slayer sounding “Reclaim” features ghostly female vocals which lend a nice cool down element amidst all the Hadean revelry as well as a sapphic touch to an otherwise testosterone dominated dirge.

From the looks and sounds of it I’ve personal demons and masochistic tendencies which compel me to keep Samara’s 2013 demo close at hand. Either that or I’m subconsciously worried dark forces will inflict their wrath!

“Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or better, never give in, except to convictions of honour and good sense, never yield to force, never yield to the apparent overwhelming might of the enemy, never give in, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or better, never give in! [ad nauseum]”.