Conan
Evidence Of Immortality

LA RECENSIONE

The English trio Conan delivers some really good Doom Metal, intertwined with Stoner and Sludge, and in 2022 they make a comeback with this "Evidence Of Immortality." The tempos are dark and slow, gloomy and claustrophobic, as in the introductory "A Claved Head No Longer Plots," 10 minutes in which the stentorian and declamatory voice of frontman Jon Davis contrasts with a very heavy rhythm section, and the feedback distortions of the guitars assault the unwary listener with raids that have a sludge flavor. In "Levitation Hoax," the tempos become faster and more pressing with doom/stoner restarts as heavy as a boulder, a track that seems to be drawn from the previous and excellent "Existential Void Guardian" with its forays into the most uncompromising and cursed sludge.

"Ritual Of Anonymity" is an almost hardcore piece in its 3 minutes and 36 seconds of duration, filled with the stench of death that John Davis sings about in his lyrics. "Equilibrium Of Mankind" begins with a series of distortions dictated by the slow-motion tempo of the drums, 8 minutes of pure obsessive and monolithic sludge/doom metal in which the drummer takes the lead with his gallops and high-octane restarts, saturated and sulfurous guitar distortions advance towards the end of the piece, adding more harshness to the entire sound section. "Righteous Alliance" is a stoner/doom ride in which the frontman screams all his battle fury; the tempos are harsh and acid, pulverizing the ears of the poor listener with 8 powerful and mighty minutes.

It finally ends in style with the claustrophobic instrumental "Grief Sequence" driven by synths, 14 minutes of hallucinatory obsessiveness that make this "Evidence Of Immortality" a black monolith into whose coils the listener ventures with the due fear of facing a track with gothic and arcane flavors, an unusual piece for Conan but really well executed and that only further testifies to the greatness of this band. The follow-up is eagerly awaited, set for release in April 2025 on Heavy Psych Sounds Records, which will also reissue their first full-length "Monnos" on that occasion.