One fateful jamming session dated 11/11/11 is what set events in motion to birth 11Paranoias. Made up of Adam Richardson, Mark Greening (ex-Ramesses) and Mike West (Bong) this is a musical collective that will have underground doom fans the world over creaming in their pants, and quite rightly so.
‘Superunatural’ marries together the fuzzy, spaced out feel of Bong and the dark and brooding heaviness of Ramesses. The end result makes for uneasy listening indeed but sounds absolutely enormous. The weighty riffs seep through a blanket of reverb whilst the bass causes crushing destruction just below. All the while, the percussion lumbers along in the background whilst the vocals switch up between demonic sounding growls and whispers to echo-filled, clean singing that is almost a haunting moan.
This record can be suffocating at times, but if you resist the urge to fight its oppressive nature it can become trance inducing and hypnotic despite the tense atmosphere it conjures up upon first listen. This is by no means an accessible record and if you are familiar with the bands the members have already been involved with then you will be all too aware that every track is dripping with slight pretension. Listening to 11Paranoias and actually enjoying it is much like being accepted into an exclusive gentleman’s club.
What really stands out is the fluidity of expression and creativity, especially on the bonus rehearsal tracks that are tacked on to the end. They give the impression that there is no set structure for this band, they play and see where the music takes them and in turn their listeners should sit back and see where this opus chooses to lead them.
(7/10 Angela Davey)
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