RestlessI’ve been a long-time fan of Solitude Productions approach to business, clearly sticking to what they know and trying to give wider exposure to the bands they put their weight behind. I’ve discovered many excellent artists within the doom spectrum through them over the past 10 years or so, the latest of which is Restless Oblivion from Russia. As with so many doom bands from the region, you don’t have to look too far before you stumble across the first Peaceville influence, naming themselves as they have after an Anathema track. While there may be elements of that in their music, the style they have gone with is of a hybrid of the early gothic doom sound with funeral doom overtones.

Following the now traditional atmospheric intro track we launch into the album fully with ‘Deadline of Essence’. With a slow, deliberate and mournful lead and a vocal that resonates from deep below the surface, it sets a sombre mood and dictates the pace of things to come. This is doom that should be sampled like a fine wine and enjoyed over time rather than necking it in one gulp. This one needs patience and effort to appreciate the finer nuances of the music, and there is much there to appreciate for fans of the genre. There are moments on this album that remind me of the likes of Skepticism and Catacombs, however never consistently enough to outright recommend to fans of either. Some of the guitar riffs and breaks are quite beautiful, yet never enough so that they become a focal point of the album.

The songs themselves are rather shorter than I would normally expect for band of this ilk, averaging around the 7 minute mark, although when listening they seem much longer. I’m still unsure whether this is due to my brain being addled by years of listening to this style of music and it trying to fill in the blanks, or whether this is a symptom of the songs not actually being interesting enough to fully hold the attention. I’m inclined to think the latter. Over several weeks of listening to this album I have decided that it’s the vocals of Ivan Voitov that provide probably the greatest obstacle on this album. He has a very accomplished voice with a guttural growl to rival anyone, yet over the duration of the album it really doesn’t deviate in style at all and that weighs heavily on your patience over the course of an hour.

‘Sands of Time’ is something of an enigma in that all of the elements on the album should combine to make something outstanding, yet the final product is rather underwhelming. That being said I have found myself enjoying it more with every listen, so it could be that this one is just a very slow burner. All the components are here to make a first class death doom album, and there are moments where it lives up to expectation like on the final track ‘Sin of Pure Life’, but these moments are usually short lived. Restless Oblivion clearly have an inordinate amount of talent, but I don’t think it has been fully unleashed on ‘Sands of Time’. A slow burner of an album that is worth checking out, but don’t expect to be blown away by it.

(7/10, Lee Kimber)

http://restlessoblivion1.bandcamp.com/album/sands-of-time

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Restless-Oblivion/183096348412932