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| Artwork by Luciana Nedelea. |
Technically Foehammer's self-titled release from three years ago (almost to the day) is considered an EP as it only has three tracks. Put them together and it breaches the 30-minute barrier. That sort of song length carries over to their debut LP, Second Sight. This time we get four songs encompassing a punishing 46 minutes with closer “The Seer” clocking in at 16:40. Heaving riffs and heavy tone lay a severe beating on the listener as the guttural vocals and heavy-handed percussion tie the sludgy doom package together.
Foehammer immediately set out to crush skulls with slow, plodding doom. Their amps give off a constant call for death with a pounding cadence that doesn't quit and rarely speeds up. It's far from boring though as some riffs come across as slightly off-kilter. Not easy to do at funereal speeds as that kind of thing can get trickier than you think.
Often time they throw in a little flair. An atypical lick here and there and usually a solo too. The solos reveal a soul behind a solid wall of nasty, downtuned distortion. They scream of ache, betraying a visage of muscularity and an m.o. of sonic destruction. Even the riffs contradict the anger factor with despair and pain.
They're not afraid to lighten things up though. At least temporarily. “Axis Mundi” starts with a nice acoustic passage before laying down some drone and a more epic feel reminiscent of Conan. Interestingly enough, Conan has a song called “Foehammer”. Common inspiration is likely not a coincidence.
Elsewhere, early Pallbearer shades the crawling, sprawling doom giving the listener something to hold on to during what could easily become an endurance test in less capable hands.
To be honest though, you come to Foehammer to have your head caved in by brutal, relentless, bone-shattering doom riddled with a dirty tone and enough volume to shake foundations. Second Sight delivers all that with the kind of heaviness that causes gravity wells powerful enough to bring down the sky. It's a bruising effort that methodically pulverizes while making you feel like a powerful (yet perhaps complex) tyrant at the same time. If Foehammer slipped by you those many moons ago then maybe it's time you take another look with Second Sight.
There is more to metal than Black Metal and Doom Metal. There is DEATH Metal, which actually is more versatile. Maybe feature some of that on accusation. My library of Black is full up and Doom is not a favorite genre, so...
ReplyDeleteoccasion, not accusation!?
DeleteI don't agree that death metal is more versatile, but other than that you're right. We should feature more death metal.
DeleteOccasion is correct.
ReplyDeleteI can't speak for the rest of the staff but the reason I don't write much about death metal is because the death metal I enjoy is usually very basic, old school, and leads to uninspiring writing. "The singer growls, the drummer pounds, you can't really hear the bass if the guitars are ripping, there's a bunch of sick riffs, and the solos make my ears bleed."
I understand your point though. Doom and black can fall into the same pattern. I just let the emotions guide me. Death has different emotions. That's all.