Crawling out of the depths of Greek doom in 2019, Seer Of The Void made an early impression with debut LP “Revenant” in 2020. “Mantra Monolith” is the new offering and finds the trio continuing to explore those classic, dense sounds that have started to give the band a name.
The crusty and almost primitive sounding “Astride” opens the album and has a grittier type of Saint Vitus sound. The guitar break is off kilter and gives the pacy riff a sense of the twisted. However, it’s the next brace of tracks where they start to stamp their authority. The expansive sound of “Electric Father” has shades of Swedish doomsters Domkraft. Greg “Maddog” Konstantaras’ vocals have a Tom G Warrior meets Lee Dorrian quality – all scorn and condemnation and delivered with passion that serves these songs well. The drum introduction to “Death Is My Name” could catch you by surprise as it seems to come out of Van Halen’s “Hot For Teacher” territory with the double kick but the status quo is returned quickly to a whopping Sabbathian swagger and an Alice Cooper inspired vocal snarl.
One thing that becomes noticeable is that as the album progresses the quality of the tracks grows. The overall feel is very live and very primal. The fiery “Seventh Son” shows hints of the NWOBHM as the pace gets jacked up whilst “Seer Of The Void” is muscular and really heavy with a density that evokes Britain’s own Witchsorrow. The looser tracks tend to be the strongest. The frenetic tone of “Demon’s Hand” and the bouncing riff on “Hex” are all old school, well documented slabs of doomy metal that take from Cathedral and shakes it up with the macabre rawness of Celtic Frost. The band manage to get the heart rate moving in those moments when to foot gets put down. Segments of closing track “Necromancer” have some serious heft and it’s a solid way to close out what is quite an economical album.
“Mantra Monolith” is a solid sophomore album. No track overstays it’s welcome and while there is nothing ground-breaking artistically the band certainly solidify themselves within the genre and anyone into traditional doom metal will find something to spark the interest.
(7/10 Johnny Zed)
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