I’m not always a fan of two-piece doom bands—especially when they don’t have a bassist. But some can still generate enough sonic power to win me over; such is the case with Utah’s Eagle Twin on their third album for Southern Lord.
The Thundering Heard opens with a rumble, meditative vocals (à la Al Cisneros) alternating with a heavy stoner blues riff. OM is definitely a reference point, albeit with less zen and more grit. And yes, having a guitar instead of bass certainly adds a little more fuzz to the mix, with a couple of desert rock riffs that border on Kyuss. Did I mention this song is 11 and a half minutes long?
“Elk Wolfv Hymn” is much more mellow, sounding more akin to Across Tundras, without as much twang. This one is much more meandering than its predecessor, offering just a couple riffs to bang your head to over its 8+ minutes. There might be a few shades of Shrinebuilder or mellower Neurosis here, mind you. “Heavy Hoof” is a return to the doom metal thunder of the opening track, although this one is a little more compact, its vocal-driven verse leading up to a guitar-heavy chorus that’ll get yer head noddin’.
The album culminates in 14-minute epic “Antlers of Lightning.” Starting off as a fairly standard sludge/doom tune, it slows right down to a whisper echoing out over a few lonely notes (in true Scott Kelly style), then layers some heavy riffs into its super-slow-mo attack, with more than a few decent doom riffs interspersed throughout. As you can imagine with a song this long, though, it gets a bit bogged down somewhere around the eight-minute mark. But despite what seems like a long slog at times, this entire album is only about 42 minutes.
eagletwinsl.bandcamp.com/album/the-thundering-heard
