Un - Sentiment (2018) / 82%

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.

Un on Facebook

Bell Witch, Wrekmeister Harmonies & Welwitsch @Turbo Haus, Montréal, March 5th 2016

Before the end of my spring break, I had a dark rendervous at Turbo Haus for a slow metal evening. The two American west coast bands were accompanied by a local opener

Welwitsch (not even sure about the spelling as it wasn't clear on the event)

A new Montréal band with nothing released yet, this trio plays sludgey stoner/doom but do nothing to actually distinguish itself in the populated doom ocean. The drummer (a member of the black metal band Perchten, I think?) also handles the vocals but those weren't quite convincing, they're in the semi-harsh style that Matt Pike is known for but they lacked conviction and power. The guitar tone was huge and sounded really good and the compositions, while generic, are decent enough and for what I assume were one of their first gigs ever, they knew what they were doing. I'm happy Montréal's doom scene is starting to grow but I'd like some innovation, still they were a good opener.

Wrekmeister Harmonies

The collective formed by J.R. Robinson (guitar, vocals) appeared here as a quartet with the help of Bell Witch's two members on drums and bass and also a woman who handled the keys, some vocals and the violin. Most of their tracks are long crescendos starting with ambient, post, drone moments and finishing with heavy parts influenced by sludge, doom and the likes, the performance offered here wasn't different. For the first ten minutes or so, we were served some very atmospheric ambient with ethereal clean vocals( both male and female vocal chords were used), violin and some clean guitar playing. Things got heavier when the headlining guys joined as the rhythm section! Robinson looked like a madman (the alluring and gentle sort) with his grey beard and his mix of harsh and commanding vocals, he's a strong presence, that's for sure. The song (50 minutes or so?) seemed like a track they wrote for the tour since it's not from their latest album (Night of your Ascension). Even if it was a bit repetive at times and they could be tighter, it was highly entrancing, sombre music and the respectful crowd seemed really into them, it was profoundly quiet for the duration of their set. 

Bell Witch

I was a bit skeptical about how good can a funeral doom duo be live but the Seattle based project were convincing. The perfectly executed six strings bass antics of Dylan Desmond combined with the blistering heaviness of drummer's Jesse Shreibman really brought the experience to the next level. Their set comprised of three long movements such as the 22 minutes opener of Four Phantoms, their latest album, was intense and managed to suck my energy with how emotionally charged it was. Even if they're only 2 guys, there's a large amount of subtleties in their performance, from the intricate bass tapping to the non complex but totally intelligent drumming.

Drained, I rode the metro with the feeling that I've spent an happy evening listening to truly mesmerising music about death.

Sea Witch - The Blackened Sea (2015) / 76%

Canadian doom tape triptych part 1 : Dartmouth, NS

I haven't heard the first two demos of this Nova Scotian duo but from I understand, they were sludgier or more rooted in black metal than this debut full length. Totally instrumental, this six songs tape (or digital) record bears its name extremely well, you'll drown in their deep shadowy currents (as shown by the classic Doré painting chosen to illustrate their music) and wake up as a corpse on a cold dark beach.

It's a pretty lo-fi affair but there's the maximum quantity of emotions that a two piece can produce, it's moving, deep and really feels like an oceanic voyage on the Atlantic ocean. There's a lot of atmospheric tremolo guitar moments mixed with a vivid sludgey funeral doom sound recalling the early days of Germany's slow titan, Ahab. There's also some stoner moments demonstrated by a huge guitar tone like in “Tempest”. Their songs, like falling inside the Mariana trench, are quite long (especially side A with two fourteen minutes tracks) and the album doesn't feel like it's too long even if it does get a bit redundant. It also gets old after three or four spins, I was very impressed when I first heard it though but it's just not totally memorable yet. There's something that it's still lacking, perhaps it's the lack of vocals, perhaps it's something else that I have yet to identify. I really liked everything but I know they could deliver something even more epic.

Nevertheless, this is a strong debut album with a well developed and established “nautical doom” approach (as the band mentioned on their Facebook page) and it's highly recommended for fans of introspective doom with many twists and waves. I need to check out their latest split with American black metallers Ecferus now to see how they're progressing but I need some towels and a bowl of hot soup before.

Sea Witch on Bandcamp

Ufomammut, Usnea + Tunguska Mammoth and Show of Bedlam, May 17th 2015 @Bar Le Ritz PDB in Montréal

On this warm Sunday evening, the metal fans of Montréal and its surrounding all met on Jean-Talon boulevard for a night of doom of epic proportions. It was my second evening in a row at this cool venue after the excellent gig of Chilean psychedelic rockers Follakzoid but this time, it was jam packed. The Farnham and Trou du Diable beers were cold as ice and managed to put everyone in a good mood. Even though it would had been nice to get Sons of Otis on the lineup (they played the Toronto gig the night before), we got two legit Montréal based openers.

Show of Bedlam are one of the favorite local opener for metal gigs in Montréal these days, I've seen them several times including a great performance back in March when they opened for Enslaved and Yob but it's always cool to see them again. Their debut full length (initially released in 2012) was recently reissued by PRC so I grabbed a copy (5 bucks!). The band is working on a new album and their live performances got tighter and better than before, their blend of stoner, sludge, doom, noise or post-hardcore is interesting, intense and original. It's like a mix of Neurosis and Swans! Paulina's stage antics are always frivolous, spastic and insane, she's a pretty cool frontwoman. They always use some strange projections (including some grinding teeth or weird nature images) and this is really adding another layer to their live presentation. Kudos to the many promoters putting them on their bills, they're always worth it.

8 /10

Check them out: Facebook

Tunguska Mammoth were the second local openers and their name was more than adequate to be on this bill! I've seen them before so I know what to expect. The quartet plays a form of stoner/sludge with semi harsh vocals. They mix Mastodon and High On Fire into a coherent and catchy mix and are somewhat similar to bands like Red Fang. They played a new composition and it sounded better than their debut album, a bit more original too. I think they rely a bit too much on simple riff progression to unnecessarily stretch some of their songs but overall, it's enjoyable and groovy enough to keep the ball rolling. It's not a style I really dig these days but it's well done and there's not a lot of Montréal bands playing these styles so they're definitely an appreciable bonus when they open for international bands.

6,5/10 

Check them out: Mammothbook

Usnea from Portland, Oregon is currently touring North America with Ufomammut and they were an appropriate choice since they're crushingly heavy. Their blend of funeral doom, doom/stoner, doom/deathwith some slight black metal overtones (especially in the vocals) is quite good and even though they're all over the place musically, their long compositions work fine. The band also slight psych and spacey influences and it gives them an entrancing atmosphere. Their dual vocal approach is also quite fun, Justin Cory (guitars) handles the high, screeching black metal ones while Joel Williams (bass) handles the deep, cavernous ones typically used by funeral doom bands. Excellent band.

8/10

Usnea on Facebook

Picture taken on Ufomammut's Facebook page.

Ufomammut were the definite “pièce de résistance” of the evening. I've been following these guys for a while and I was anxious to see them for their first Montréal gig. The band played Victoriaville (the FIMAV festival) last year as their sole North American gig and being a broke soul, I couldn't attend this show. I was expecting the band to be truly heavy but damn, they exceeded my expectations. The Italian trio are masters of psychedelic doom/stoner, they're the real deal. Massive riffs, an elephantine bass tone, slow but thundering drums and buried but fuzzy and hallucinatory vocals.

Bands often use a projector as a way to add something to their performance, the aforementioned Show of Bedlam do it and I really liked The Ocean's videos. Ufomammut, on the other hand, integrates the projector so effortlessly that it's like a fourth member. The band is also a visual art collective under the name Malleus (they handle all their artwork) and it shows. They have a perfect control on how they present themselves and that's yet another proof that they're a terrific band. During their ninety minutes set (??? I've lost track of time, to be fair), they used a wide variety of psychedelic visualizations ranging from stalactites to mysterious priests and intense volcanic flames. It's really well done and fits their heavier than thou music like a glove.

The trio played their whole new album “Ecate”, it was enjoyable and mesmerizing. They have a pretty good discography without any truly flawed albums but it's fun to hear a veteran band play their new material so convincingly. They came back from a short break after the album and played some older material like Stigma from “Idolum”. I'm not quite of the other trackssure since I was completely out of energy near the end, they really drained me in the best way possible.

Ufomammut were one of the most spectacular bands I've ever seen, this set goes directly in my top five of all time. I doubt I'll see a heavier band this year.







11/10

Ufofacebook

Since I don't have a great camera and can't call myself a great photograph, you can use these two wonderful articles.

A bunch of pics and a microreview in French on Voir

Beautiful black and white pictures by Myriam Francoeur

2 pictures, credit goes to Amarilys Way:

Vita of Ufommamut

Urlo, Ufomammut

Pendulous - A Palpable Sense of Love & Loss (2015) / 85%

An enjoyable sense of doom and death

I was recommended this band by a friend and I judged them perhaps too hastely because of the cover art but also the title of their album. I thought it was a bit corny and I expected the music to be some sort of pseudo depressive metal/rock à la Katatonia. But eh, I was wrong. While it's certainly sad, it's serious, well written and not sappy at all. The LA quintet's debut album is an excellent album and it's already showcasing some serious songwriting skills. They understood how to thoroughly mix genres very well, even though it's their debut full length, these dudes are certainly experienced musicians and this record is a proof of it.

It's clearly an extreme doom metal album with nods to both doom/death and funeral doom, there's even some post rock elements. It's all wonderfully mixed together in long intricate songs. A track like “Hibernal Sun” is including some really lovely post rock moments and it fits very well. Furthermore, the transitions between the genres are done effortlessly and the ten plus minutes tracks formula works for them. The Metal Archives classifies them as a doom/death metal band and, for the most part, it's accurate but they're much more than that. They're one of those bands that are hard to classify since they're largely original. I guess tags like “dark metal” or “atmospheric doom metal” are also accurate for Pendulous. One thing that's pretty obvious is that you will not find any happiness here!

Eric Rezső Mendoza (also stellar in his former band Dona Eis Requiem) has to be the highlight of this album, the duality of his vocals is quite interesting. Ranging from deep, harsh vocals borrowing from both death and black metal (but mostly funeral doom) to profound cleans reminding me of Aaron Stainthorpe or the emotional traditional doom voice of Patrick Walker. E.R.M. has a very versatile voice and it helps to create the same vocal combo present in Mourning Beloveth, a band that I could identify as their nearest peer.
The album starts and ends with spoken word over some gloomy music and I thought they were a bit too much and unnecessary, that's almost ten minutes out of a hour album but, at least, he has an intriguing voice so it's not completely useless. I have a tendency not to skip any tracks but I guess I will when I'll listen to this album again. These spoken vocals are also included in the bulk of the album and it adds to the varied atmosphere. It's still something I'd personally remove as they're already able to convey many emotions just with their musicality and it's frankly a bit grating. It's a personal thing, really, someone might like what they done with this. Nonetheless, that's the only negative thing I have to point out about as it's very strong otherwise.

From what I said, it's safe to imply that the material present here is quite slow but they keep things interesting with a lot of dynamism and many atmosphere variations like some super heavy riffing and slow moments full of shadows. While it's obviously a “technical” band and there's no shred or the likes, the musicians all subtly shine. The drums are a mix of some blastbeats and more traditional percussions while the bass (sometimes noisy and thundering) is apt at filling the void when the two guitars are at their softest. The guitars are really great when they play with textures and try their hand at atmospheric post rock and the likes. There's also some supplementary instruments like cello and piano (listen to “Memoirs” and they add a welcome classical background to the music.

A Palpable Sense of Love & Loss (that's a mouthful) is excellent at mixing moods, the despair is present in both the doom/death metal attacks and their reflective and rich side. Their lyrics are poetic and melancholic with an added sense of dread and sorrow to them as we could expect from a band evolving in those genres but it's totally evocative and romantically somber.

The band sounds more like something found in Northern Europe than a bunch of dudes from the Los Angeles area. They channel their aggression in a classy, solemn manner unlike the Bay Area thrash metal, that's for sure. Highly recommended. 

Pendulous on Bandcamp
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