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Winnipeg's Psychotic Gardening bring the heavy with their icy take on death/doom. They've been around in some form or another for the better part of 18 years. And you'd have to wonder how many times the subject of a name change came up and was shot down. Almost as bad as fellow Canadians Nostril Caverns but thankfully the music more than makes up for the bad name.
Their fourth album, Hymnosis is a combination of doom-tinged death metal and foot-dragging doom, sometimes within songs but most often they stick to one style per track. “Defile” features a killer riff to go along with serious crunch and a defined sense of dread. “Genome Degradation” gets pretty groovy while maintaining tonal corruption. Plus, the dual black/death vocals prevent the track from sounding too Rob Zombie-ish.
Their doom tracks take the low and slow path but hold the lengths below six minutes, keeping the album moving. Big riffs and just enough atmosphere make for a depressing Candlemass-gone-demonic vibe. A nice little treat before the album's subdued, Type O Negative sounding closer is a cover of Death's “Open Casket” with guests Tim Roth (Into Eternity) and Chuck Wepfer (Broken Hope). They did a superb job of making it their own.
While not breaking any new ground in the genre Psychotic Gardening have made a pretty good death/doom album that's stuck with me for months since it's release. Never mind the name, give it a spin.
[Go to the post to view the Bandcamp player]