Not sure where this came from as it appears to be a 2011 release. Still if it came all the way from Spain at its own pace then it probably explains it. Yeah, doom. Slow doom. More sludge and drone inspired than orthodox doom but slow, downtuned, despondent….

‘Alto Padre’, the opener, might lead you to believe differently however were it not for the slow steady fuzz noise floating around behind the clean picked guitar. It is shockingly a thoughtful, atmospheric entrance that spins out an eerie world for you. When the more.. ah… Orthodox sludge crunch of ‘Taurus’ begins I am initially a fair bit underwhelmed despite some very distinctively pitched vocals but then it picks up the pace a little, rips a rough but melodic lead out and plunges into a softer but far more atmospheric world of bass caverns and lead echoes. The vocals are not your usual grunt ‘n’ growl either; they have a higher tone and a weird little warble/vibrato/echo on them which really pitches things into the edge if madness, a religious hint burning embers there too. They really take the focus on ‘Iatromantis’, dazzling you with some maniacal fervour until they let the music go off into the depths. Imagine a Conan but not so utterly black hole dense and with a more progressive edge in the hypnotic sludge. Pretty bloody excellent really.

I mean disgracefully I had heard of but never heard these guys before, despite it being their fourth full length but, damn, it is pretty excellent. Not sure about them going on stage in robes which is getting a bit creaky as if they can produce this live then they’d be pretty compelling in ratty jeans and t shirts. I think I have some back tracking through their catalogue to do…

‘Hanibaal’ adds a bit of twisted evil bounce to things, much more doom and with that drugged up, strung out, evil sound that Blood Farmers or Funeral Circle have, bringing another cracked facet to the light. Fourteen minute closer ‘Abrase La Tierra’ begins close to some of the less abstract darkness of The Puritan. Organ sounds gradually guide it towards a coherent, bleak riff that kind off pushes the world of the edge into the apocalypse.

Intense, dark, sludgy and very, very listenable. Well worth your money.

(8/10 Gizmo)

http://www.myspace.com/orthodoxband