There is something in the water. Something organic that enters your body through your ear canal, travels down the eustachian tube then fills your lungs with its viscous sludge.
Yeah, that’s right Olde got it going on!
This is the Canadian’s third album since inception in 2014 bringing their brand of post metal meets Stoner Doom to the world.
To get any comparisons out of the way the much used “For Fans Of” list would include High On Fire, Trouble and Yob. However, they manage to not fall into the trap of copyists or worship.
Pilgrimage, as an album is heavy as fuck whilst remaining accessible, the riffs carry with them a great sense of melody and the post elements have purpose and hep drive each track onwards rather than causing the listener to meander off the path into a fug of confusion.
The title track which opens the octet of compositions here is a, comparatively, gentle introduction to Olde’s sound which takes the listener by the hand and sets them on the path through the dark woods. On that path “A New King” waits, proggy, majestic and chockfull of stoner groove with jazzy loose gripped drums.
The desert is strong on the album – “Medico Della Peste” and “The Dead Hand” sound like they were formed from a pool of Matt Pikes nipple sweat. “Religion is a weapon of mass destruction” Maaaaaaaaaaan! The latter gives Crowbar a run for their money. Plus, there are saxophone solos! I am a sucker from brass in metal.
When Olde pluck further at the “post” strings with single note guitar lines ushering in crushing riffs I am reduced to jelly. “In Defiance” is majestic bringing to mind Mountaineer’s momentous “Bloodletting” album from 2020. “Depth Charge” is a slab of Sleep that will have any dopesmoker nodding along rather than nodding out.
“Under Threatening Skies” is a brooding plodder that tickles the right places but could do with a lil summat to gee it up.
Which leads us into “Wastelands” – talking of brooding -this is the sound of a trudge across a desolate landscape as the atmosphere slowly suffocates you under a cancerous sun.
Olde’s Pilgrimage harks back to the real meaning of the word – an arduous journey often undertaken on one’s knees but for the purpose of a great spiritual reward. Groovy!
(8/10 Matt Mason)
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