Doom/death, when done well, can be truly crushing; a wall of dramatic, desolate despair, dripping with atmosphere (and a whole lot of other words beginning with `d’ no doubt). In rare cases, it can be an almost life-changing experience (like the first time I heard Anathema); within the slower, heavier end of extreme metal there can be a lot of scope to experiment, to breathe interesting new life into the elongated gaps between crashing chord changes. Dwell are a band made up mostly of ex-members of Danish underground death/doom legends Cerekloth, and so there is a fair amount of expectation that comes with this album.
In a lot of ways, the veteran kudos of the band’s members shines through on this release; unlike many death/doom albums of recent times, this is not polished, multi-layered and fairly glossy. Instead it has a harsh, raw, dark and hypnotic sound which harks back to much earlier releases, and in particular to the early days of Peaceville. The riffs, for the most part, are massive, simple, monstrous affairs with more than a nod to the dark, claustrophobic experimentation of Celtic Frost, and a large dose of morbid melancholy, particular on album closer `Perditions Mire’. There is also a hint of a certain band from Yorkshire, with epic touches added here and there from drifting, minor arpeggios played over the top of the vast, weighty riffs.
I do have a couple of bones to pick with this album however. For a starter, only three out of the six tracks on offer, are actually heavy death doom songs. The other three are experimental, drifting soundscapes. In particular `Pathless and Dormant’, which comes in as the second track, rather makes for an anti-climax after the opening song, which begins the album with some fairly promising and atmospheric, heavy death/doom. Having a second track which involves strange, sci-fi noises and metallic thumping seems a little incongruous in my opinion, although it does have an atmosphere of its own.
The second grumble, is that it is pretty clear that the chaps from Dwell can do better than this. Previous bands, such as Cerekloth and Altar of Oblivion somehow had more interesting, unique sounding musical structures, and greater riffing. The music on display here is good, but you always get the feeling it could be better, almost as if they deliberately held back their best ideas. There are hints at greatness here and there; some tremendously dark and grim atmospheres, and some beautiful, melodic yet utterly desolate moments, but just not enough to make it truly amazing. Often, it is fairly standard, old-school death doom. This album is not what I would call essential listening, but it shows many hints of promise, and isn’t bad. The one after this could be a belter.
(6.5/10 Jon Butlin)
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