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They are the expression of the purest doom metal. The slow, very slow kind, with a sweetly sadistic voice, acidic guitars and suffocating rhythms.
Once again, an album of this genre is the work of an American band hailing from Texas, the homeland of doomsters Solitude Aeturnus. An essential group composed of three members: Karl Simon on guitar and vocals, Jason McCash on bass, and Chuck Brown behind the drums.
Three members who with their sparse and seminal style manage to create sound walls from which there is no escape. We are perpetually trapped between the poisonous scrape of the guitar and Karl's voice. There's nothing else, no complicated sonic evolutions, no atmospheric keyboards. Only the essentials to give life to a "sickly" doom that reminded me of the masters Cirith Ungol.
"The Awakening", the band's first true studio album after various self-produced demos, is a raw work where all the influences that have characterized the band's development can be traced. The aforementioned Ungol in their raw attitude, the Candlemass of "Epicus Doomicus Metallicus" for the epic quality of some passages. However, the blend of the Americans is quite personal and contributes to the creation of an excellent album, which has secured the future of their career.
This album saw the light in 2004 through the label Final Chapter. Right from the dark cover, "The Triumph of Death" by Bruegel the Elder, we get the staging of the band's sound. Claustrophobic and monolithic compositions that move along coordinates of absolute heaviness and slowness. From the opening title track to the concluding "The burial", the trend is typical of the genre, composed of slow rhythms and existential themes. The only instance where the speed increases is "The executioner". For the rest, six insurmountable sonic boulders.
"The Awakening" is a great debut work, perhaps a bit static, but powerful and impactful as doom should be. A band still relatively unknown but slowly carving out a niche in the American musical chaos. A proposal made of classicism and tradition that blends wonderfully with the sonic "trips" of each track.
Give it a listen, it truly deserves it.
1. "The Awakening" (9:08)
2. "The Judge" (6:02)
3. "The Jury" (7:27)
4. "Broken On The Wheel" (5:38)
5. "The Executioner" (3:23)
6. "Blessed Pathway To The Celestial Kingdom" (2:57)
7. "The Burial" (9:32)
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