RELAXING TRIPS INTO THE UNKNOWN
To be acutely blunt and straightforward, in the today’s day,
if there is one genre that is extremely overstuffed and wrought with
unoriginality, it is stoner metal, and more specifically stoner/doom. Bands
with their recycled Sabbathian riffs and Electric Wizard type drawn out song
structures have made this a genre of who can come up with the best tribute to
the aforesaid bands rather than delving into something new or expanding the
boundaries of the genre and its sound in any way and have in the process made
the regular stoner sound an extremely monotonous one where each bands sound
like the next. Amidst this platitudinous and trivial contention of who can
sound the heaviest or who can come up with the catchiest chorus, arises a power
trio by the name of High Priest Of Saturn all the way from Norway. One
instantaneously clubs black metal with the country of Norway, but they have
quite a budding doom metal scene as well with bands like Sahg and Black Lodge
having gained international recognition, and more recently Devil with its retro
take on doom metal has gained them quite a few admirers.
Some of you may be aware of the band, consisting of Merethe
Heggset who is the driving force of the band taking on the dual duties of
vocalist and bassist, Andreas Hagen handling the drums and one half of the
axework with Martin Sivertsen taking care of the other half and guest musician Ole
Kristian Malmedal running has ethereal fingers over the organ. The band which
released its self titled debut demo back in 2011, has come up with their first album,
also self titled in early 2013. The new albums along with minor touches on the
two tracks present on the demo, contains two new songs as well, which together stretch
a tinge more than forty minutes. Though the average track length is rather high
the inoffensive attitude and warm recording make for a very relaxing, almost
ethereal experience.
While most bands fight trivial contests of who can be the loudest
or who an immerse themselves the most in fuzz, High Priest Of Saturn have come
up with a very laid back style of heavy stoner psychedelic metal. The music
that the band play can be described as a portal between the past and the
present with one foot firmly rooted in the 60’s psychedelia and 70’s Sabbath,
with the other foot planted in the modern day stoner territories with its love
for being drenched in fuzz, and still not being derivative in the least. Think Windhand
minus the excessive fuzz molded with Spacefog without the aggression wrought together
to create a swirling, mixing out of body experience into the atramentous
passages only illuminated by torches lit by trips into the psychedelia infused expanses
into the unknown. After you wrap your head around this imagine a continuous undercurrent
of the organ throughout the release, taking the backstage instead of being the
center of attention like in bands like Stonehenge and you have the primordial
sound of a power trio collectively known as High Priest Of Saturn.
The band focuses not on a particular riff but instead focus
on creating an experience where the focus of the listener is not drawn to any particular
facet but instead to the natural progression of each track with its twists and
turns. Though mostly trudging along with a slow speed it in an album where one
moment you are in the midst of sleepy jam only to be broken by the copious bass
of Merethe, and though there are jams dotted throughout the release the band
does show a proclivity towards more structured songs. Though this release is
mostly instrumental, enveloped in a smoke with mystical purging qualities, High
Priest of Saturn is a part of the new wave of doom bands where the leading
member is a female and to call her voice angelic or like that of a siren would
be gross understatement. It is her performance on the bass as well on the mic
that bind the band together which such malleability so as to create an
extremely fluid release and it is her flexibility during the vocals that thrust
the band to higher grounds of greatness. At times crooning, at times soft spoken,
almost ethereal and at times singing at a powerful lower register, she has come
up with a performance that has set the bar very high for both current as well
as future ladies of doom. It’s not all about Merethe. Though she does add an
air of mystery around the band and is the bands most distinguishing feature, it
also the axework of Andreas and Martin who without following of trends have set
out to create a path of their own with their dreamy guitars and lengthy solos
that transport the listener into a soothingly whimsical world of musical
therapy. I often wonder why bands that play heavy psychedelic rock never use
the influences laid down by the grandmasters of the genre, Pink Floyd, but here
the band put that question to rest and play solos reminiscent of the great band
including one on the track ‘Crawling King Snake’ which sound like something
Floyd would have played during their ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’ days.
All this held together by the organ played by the magic
fingers of session member Kristian has by alchemy created this unique experience
and has had got this band functioning in a territory where not many seemed to
have dared to explore. This is as original, and as different as different can
get in the modern day of stoner. It is a genuine, frank, straight forward and
heartfelt release without the pretentiousness and without the over reliance of
paths already well set and is an impeccable debut that is an absolute must have
for all fans of the genre.
SCORE - 77/100
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