Solitude are doing a pretty good job of trying to get the still mostly unknown Russian extreme metal scene out into the world, so it was nice when this and another album dropped in my lap. The difficult thing here is that anyone who was at that gig in London end of January will understand why reviewing anything else vaguely funeral doom related is a bit tricky. Still, that’s why I’m here, and thankfully Russian duo Septic Mind have a bit more in their box of tricks.
This is their third release since 2008 and their second for Solitude so I was hoping for a band with their sound fully formed and a focus about them, and I got it.
The twenty five minute title track ‘The True Call’ begins with a slow, almost space rock feel to the keyboards, slowly morphing into more funeral territory which offers a cavernous chamber to enter in by. It’s a rich sound but as it rises the death vocals come in and they are, to be honest a bit expressionless here despite the wreathing keyboard wow and flutter. When they fall away though the majesty of the track lifts again. Amidst the keyboards that have that religious, monastic sound come the plucked guitar notes. It leaves a distinct goth feel to it, ‘ Elizium’ period Fields Of The Nephilim in a cloud of funeral doom perhaps. And when the vocals return they resonate so much better. It’s a long journey, stately but atmospheric and even if it doesn’t exactly go anywhere, where it stays is fine enough to keep me interested.
‘Doomed To Sin’ throws me a bit after that. Shorter at about eighteen minutes, it launches with a pure post-rock guitar twiddling that drifts through a bit of prog and then grinds to a standstill. And claws it’s way out with a deep bit of total sludge doom. It is a weird shift and not one I’m convinced works perfectly but the sludge is compelling and thick with a slow, disintegrating sound that is like fading light, particularly as some melody seeps in and out in later parts. The track moves inexorably towards this twinkling, twilight sound before fading into some cosmic distance leaving the listener both bereft and slightly in awe.
Saving the shortest (fifteen minutes) to last, the final song ‘ Planet Is Sick’ leads on the kind of rolling, sludge meets space rock sound. Dancing tripped out notes and cosmic sounds strike lights on a huge, crushing stoned riff and snarling, snapping vocals rise from the rumble. Think a shot of black metal ripping in as Litmus play early Electric Wizard and you get the idea. The riff is superb and the vocals so much more animated than previously. It falls into strange quiet passage halfway through as though the song has slipped into the crawlspace between this world and the next, returning in dark clouds of wandering guitar and sombre growls, fading out on fuzz and melody and a spiral down into the abyss.
Yes I have issues with the shifts within tracks at times, but all three pull through in the end and leave you not just pleased but wanting more. Always a good sign. Fancy a bit of cosmic tinged, sludge stained funeral doom? Step this way.
(7/10 Gizmo)
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