When my esteemed editor sent me the download for pan-American band Somnus Throne’s eponymous debut out of the blue, it was an act I’d never heard of. Bizarrely however, within minutes of that email arriving, the name suddenly started popping up on assorted doom and stoner sites, either the sign of a canny online presence, or some new and gripping sound that was creating its own buzz? Well, time to stop prevaricating, and crack on with the review.
After the sound bite laden prologue of ‘Caliphate Obeisance’, the music proper starts with a few fuzzily picked chords opening ‘Sadomancer’ before the inevitable low end riff powers in accompanied by a throbbing bass and slogging drum beat that was once the sole property of Electric Wizard back in the day, laconically delivered vocals intermixing with more dialogue that sounds stolen from a seventies Satanic celluloid sleaze fest. By contrast ‘Shadow Heathen’ is far more upbeat, and frankly more than a little reminiscent of the earlier THC infused offerings of The Sword in the way it combines a stoner vibe with a surprisingly catchy, near bouncing beat.
This upbeat spirit is clubbed away with the blunt tool of ‘Receptor Antagonist’, the opening stripped back long guitar work heralding in a doom laden dirge of vocals that vacillate between a low in the mix groan and an angst laden scream, a short lived burst of speed at the seven minute mark tailing off into a tempo with all the urgency of a lumbering zombie. If the first three ten minute plus tracks of ‘Somnus Throne’ were too short and commercial for you, the band deliver the slow with the near quarter hour slog of ‘Aetheronaut-Permadose’, a title that should conjure up its own review almost without needing to hear the song. Growled lyrics of magical and chemical viewings of the multiverse through an acidic kaleidoscope are carried along in a dense fog of dirty psychedelic riffs and blurry rhythms almost custom designed to be the centre piece of a set at Freak Valley or a Stoner vs Doom festival, as and when those gatherings of the long of hair are allowed to resurface from the darkness and back into the gloom.
‘Somnus Throne’ is in no way a bad album, and if you are the sort of denim and flare clad worshipper of all things Iommian, then you will find a lot to enjoy here. What it isn’t, however, is something with a particularly unique sound or style. However, as a band just starting out, it is obvious that they would pay homage to their influences, and may well go on to develop their own unique identity, something I’d like to see. So, pull on your favourite “You can only trust yourself and the first six Black Sabbath albums” t-shirt, partake of your favourite relaxant turn up the volume, and enjoy.
(7/10 Spenny)
Leave a Reply