When you first hear this band, all you think of is classic, classic, classic doom, stoner, and funeral doom but not necessarily in that order. I am talking about a band that picks the very best elements of Yob, Electric Wizard and Thorr’s Hammer and puts in a blender and stirs it up with menacing fury. In short, this is killer stuff.
The band is fronted by a female doom warrior by the name of Valendis Suomalainen that has one of the most exciting female voices for doom that I have heard in a long time and that was really the first thing to grab me on the first spin of the album. On further spins however, all this spell-binding music emerged that I didn't soak up too much at first. There is the excellent twin-axe playing of Jubo Laitinen and Patrick Ellison who unleashed some mesmerizing melodies and distorted, pulverizing riffage.
The bass playing of Tommi Hartin and drumming of Jani Peltola is equally as potent. Herem are not your usual by-the-numbers kind of doom band. The songs here move and constantly shift in various directions and are always interesting. The one-two punch in the stomach that kicks off the album is solid proof that this band is the real deal. The opening 'Heavens' which in a mass of feedback and orgasmic noise leads into the following track called 'Earth' which blends psychedelia, sludge, funeral death doom and irresistible doomy grooves and it is all served up with lashings of killer melody and hooks.
'Dogs of Doom' throws up more killer riffs, hooks, and grooves and again, it is a melting pot of different doom sub-genres all rolled into one. As a vocalist Valendis Suomalainen really shows her talents in this one, possessing a great range and a flair for unleashing different emotions at will. Just when you thought it wont get any heavier, they present to you 'Promise' that features some of the albums most stomach-churning heavy passages. The following tune 'Water' pushes even more grooves out and a set of riffs that are simply majestic yet bombastic. The last track is the icing on the cake as it is one of the album highlights. This sinister closer titled 'Babylon' is the perfect closing statement for this album. It is more monolithic in terms of atmosphere and it winds the album down to its ultimate spine-chilling, headache inducing climax.
Words are hard to come by with a release as vast and multi-faceted as this one. The band deliver a lot of early Electric Wizard styled dirge but they have as a counterpoint, melodies that would be more at home with a death-doom band but without the cheese watering it down. This is the kind of album that fans of real extreme doom metal crave but only comes along a few times a year if you are lucky. I can't really say they are breaking down any walls with this release but they are certainly delivering all the key goods to an excellent doom album. Riffs, power, melodies, dynamics, powerful vocals and captivating arrangements is what this album has and more. This is an easy early pick for a top 5 album for 2012 so you wont want to miss this one...10/10.
Herem Official Website
Inverse Records
Interview @ Deaf Sparrow
Posts
0 COMMENTS:
Widgets by Blog Widgets
Post a Comment
Doommantia will not accept spam, racist or sexist comments or people making comments just to start a argument. Be constructive if you intend to criticize, comments like s**t review or you suck will be marked as spam and deleted. If you have a problem with a review, take it up with the author via email. There is other basic rules - No Profanity, No defamatory or personal attacks, No negative rants unrelated to the article in question and No Soliciting. If you break these rules it may lead to you being immediately and permanently banned and your service provider being informed in extreme cases. IP addresses are being recorded. If you don't follow these simple rules, I have to take it you cant read so what are you doing here anyway?