Milwaukee earned its spot on the doom metal map a few years back, with the Days of the Doomed fest bringing a whole buncha slow ‘n heavy outfits to a small, cozy bar by the airport. I had the pleasure of attending said festival a couple times, enduring up to 14 straight hours of doom in one day. And while there were lotsa killer U.S. bands on the bill, almost all of them were from outta town. But hey, if you tune it (low), they will come—and here we have native Milwaukee sons Asatta issuing their full-length debut.
Spiraling Into Oblivion starts off on a downtuned note indeed, as the band comes crashing in on leadoff track “Dials.” These guys are certainly on the stoner side of doom, with thick, heavy grooves akin to Sleep or Zoroaster. Though the vocals are mostly nondescript, they add a southern croon on the refrain “No Future” towards the end of the nearly nine-minute track, before switching to cleaner singing.
“Lapse” contains more of the same slow, punishing downtuned riffs, although the vocals really soar on this one. I actually get a bit of a Warning or a Pallbearer vibe here. About halfway through, they kick it up into a mid-paced heavy groove that reminds me more of Borracho. They continue with the more compact stoner sounds on “1678,” though it switches toward slower Sabbathian fare around the halfway mark.
The highlight on here has gotta be “She Died Long Ago,” a 9-and-a-half-minute slice of epic doom that’s equal parts Candlemass and AoS (that’s Apostle of Solitude, for those not in the know). Man, if Milwaukee’s got more bands like this kicking around, we might hafta resurrect that two-day doomfest…
