Ruins & Flowers
The American west coast (Portland, Seattle etc...) sure has a distinct sound, call it Cascadian or whatever, it’s unimportant in the end. What matters is that most of those bands are pretty damn good and interesting. Acts like Lycus, Alderaban, Ash Borer, Usnea or Bell Witch put a lot of atmosphere in their extreme metal and they help the creation of a potent sound.
Un (one in French) released their debut full length back in 2015 and I thought it was an impressive slab of slow stuff. Sentiment, their sophomore album improves their formula ever further. Funeral doom is a hard style to mess around, its primary components make it hard for its disciples to truly distinguish itself. They’re like those black cultists preaching at the altar of the olde godes like Esoteric or Thergothon. While Un aren’t iconoclasts or genre revolutionaries, they did enough to separate themselves from the pack.
Funeral doom is often seasoned with death metal or even black metal (see Nortt) but using the American blend of sludge (high in trans fat, see Crowbar) was definitely a good idea. It doesn’t make a super huge difference in the final result but it’s a bit more exciting than your run of the mill funeral doom band. The growls of front-man Monte Mccleery (probably also a cowboy with that name) are deep and ultimately quite traditional but what sets them apart is their guitars. You obviously have those slow, crunchy riffs but the band lets itself loose with those big joyful melodic leads like at the end of the title track. It’s borderline post metal at times but it’s never unfocused.
Just like the artwork where ruins are meeting a meadow of colorful flowers, darkness meets light. The inclusion of female vocals on “Pools of Reflection” did wonders for their atmosphere as well. Un’s strength relies on the small details and their propension for melody and beautiful guitar leads.
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