By Gruesome Greg
Bit of an interesting back story to this death-doom unit, mostly from Winnipeg, but with a Swedish singer they’ve never actually met in person, exchanging songs over the internet and whatnot. OK, so maybe that’s not so unusual in this day and age. Anyhoo, the band’s sophomore effort begins with massive, 19-minute epic “Brooding Hex” that falls somewhere between Winter, Zoroaster and Sunn O))), albeit with some more traditional blackened-sludge vocals. Nothing wrong with this one, I suppose, although it is awfully lengthy.
Elsewhere, we get some straight-up, Georgia-style sludge in “Illuminati,” albeit with some slowed-down, underwater sequences, again bringing Zoroaster to mind. “Intoxicant Immuration” shows shades of Winter’s dank-basement death/doom, with some drone thrown in for good measure, while “Transmittal” packs an equal wallop, nearly 12 minutes of downtrodden despondency.
Yes, these songs are all pretty long, but they’re not as repetitive as you might expect. With apologies to their Relapse label mates Indian – come back Wednesday for a review of their new one – this is how you make blackened sludge/doom less boring.
(Relapse)
Oblique To All Paths will be released January 20th in North America by Relapse Records
