I told you Elder’s got a posse! A West Coast gig from our new stoner rock saviours inspired this here Vancouver trio to start kicking out their own respective jams, which has resulted in their five-song debut EP, Reminiscence. There’s two distinct types of tunes on Reminiscence—three sub-four-minute tracks, and then a pair of eight-plus minute epics, where they really take things to another level.
We start off with “The Offering,” a tight, four-minute tune with some great big gurgling riffs, pounding percussion and fairly typical hoarse, post-sludgey shouts. Not a bad beginning. But second song “Immer” takes it to a whole new level. There’s more of a bit of Anciients in this eight-minute number, with a good mix of proggy riffs and heavy breakdowns. But then things take a bit of a black-metal turn around the midway mark, with a vicious onslaught of atonal riffage, with a slight post-rock sheen, that I definitely didn’t see coming!
Clocking in just under three minutes, “Baptizer” is a pretty tight sludgy hardcore tune that not coincidentally kinda reminds me of Baptists…or at least some of their slower, heavier numbers, before throwing in another blackened metal flourish at the end. Then we get the longest song on here, “They Speak Like Trees,” which is just a little under 10 minutes. The opening bass line reminds me of Sleep, but they sound a little more proggy, more akin to Anciients, Elder or maybe even Neurosis with some of their shimmering riffs. They’re definitely off to a pretty good start…
thisisempress.bandcamp.com/album/reminiscence
