Doomed and stoned in Brazil

By Karen A. Mann. I’ll admit that my knowledge of Brazilian metal (and Brazilian music itself) doesn’t extend far beyond the major players, but when Max sent me links to about a dozen current doom bands from there, I was pretty intrigued. After giving them

By Karen A. Mann.

I’ll admit that my knowledge of Brazilian metal (and Brazilian music itself) doesn’t extend far beyond the major players, but when Max sent me links to about a dozen current doom bands from there, I was pretty intrigued. After giving them all a good listen, I was also impressed and with faced with a conundrum. All of them are damn good and really worthy of a review on their own. I did ultimately decide to cull the list down to the five that stood out to me personally. I also tried to get a good mix of styles, as many on the original 12 were heavily in the stoner groove.

I can say this: Belo Horizonte -- home to Sepultura and Sarcofogo -- really must be the capital of Brazilian heavy metal because many of these bands call that city home. Also, I was impressed with the vocalists of all these bands, almost all of whom sing clean and possess some serious pipes.

Art by Cristiano Suarez.

The first band on the list, and the clear standout in many ways is Necro, a young, female-fronted psychedelic doom trio that released two singles in August and September of last year, and their first full-length (Adiante) in December. With clear influences including Budgie, Deep Purple and Wishbone Ash, Necro’s sound featuring multi-part rhythm changes, freak-out guitar solos and the odd Mellotron touch just to chill things out.

Art by T. Witchlover.

In October of 2015, Necro released a split with another band, Witching Altar, (see here and here) which unfortunately doesn’t seem to be currently active (that split was the last thing they have listed on Bandcamp). That’s unfortunate because Witching Altar -- especially on that split -- offers a heady mixture of of Uncle Acid’s trippy melodies and Pentagram’s foreboding gloom, with a little hit of The Hellacopters’ speed and sneer.

Artwork: Lucas Krepa

Hailing from Florianopolis, Muñoz operates pretty firmly in the stoner groove, with bluesy, fat riffs and head-bobbing grooves. Check out their September, 2016, release, Smokestack.

Fallen Idol offers bombastic epic doom in the vein of Candlemass with fist-pumping riffs complemented perfectly by Rodrigo Sitta’s powerful, clean, high voice.

Artwork by Daniel Bretas.

Fans of The Blues Pills and Blood Ceremony will love this witchy, female-fronted band, whose name translates to Dune, Breeze and Flame. Their January, 2016, release features evocative vocals by Anna Martinez, over fuzzy guitars and heavily foreboding keyboards.

If you’d like to check out the other bands on the list:
HellLight - Pesta - Cattarse - Abske Fides
Fuzzly - Ruínas de Sade - Pantanum

Pillorian - Obsidian Arc

By Sean Golyer. For many, Pillorian’s debut will be a place both familiar and new, fraught with some heavy baggage from the past. Understandably, some will color their idea of this band with past work of the members of Pillorian, most notably Haughm and the late Agalloch. Fewer still may even give a pass on this album simply for

By Sean Golyer.

Artwork by Niels Geybels.

For many, Pillorian’s debut will be a place both familiar and new, fraught with some heavy baggage from the past. Understandably, some will color their idea of this band with past work of the members of Pillorian, most notably Haughm and the late Agalloch. Fewer still may even give a pass on this album simply for its storied, drama-filled origin. In some way this scornful view of the band was perhaps not an oversight, as its very namesake means “of, or relating to, scorn and condemnation”, though I’m certain the choice of name is multiplicitous. My aim, however, is to take this album on its own merits and review it as such, independent from these inevitable connotations. I think Obsidian Arc deserves at least that much, as (spoiler) it’s already a standout metal release for 2017.

Make no mistake, this is a Metal album through-and-through. While it certainly contains elements of neo-folk and “dark metal” sprinkled throughout its roughly 50 minute runtime, I don’t think it’s a bold statement to assert Obsidian Arc’s raw, metallic nature. The stripped-down, traditional approach to the arrangement coupled with the speed and ferocity only briefly touched on by Haughm’s previous work is what I find to be immediately gripping about the album. It’s also completely unafraid to develop massive, riffy hooks in tracks such as the doom-like “Archaen Divinity”, the black metal ripper of “Forged Iron Crucible”, or the dark and progressive single “A Stygian Pyre”.

The backbone of this wild and untamed fury is the drumwork of Trevor Matthews. Thunderous and pummeling, it is the hate-filled glue that really brings these tracks together and adds that extra layer of energy and anger in an already mean and nihilistic album. Even Haughm’s vocals, while familiar in tone, have a scathing acidity to their delivery that is refreshing and exciting to hear. The rhythm guitars are pretty meaty and tonally dark for a black metal album, adding to overall the heaviness of the mix. Sparkling acoustic guitars are often subtly layered with the rhythm guitars, peaking out only when they need to add to a folky vibe or smartly allow the song to breath a bit while other instruments drop out for an interlude. The use of this strategy is particularly notable on opener “By the Light of the Black Sun” and “The Vestige of Thorns”. The lead guitar tone used for a few solos and ebow parts throughout are a fun calling card of Haughm’s previous work and will be familiar to many.

But I suppose the real question at play here is: is it actually good and worth your time? Does it surpass these artists’ previous work? That’s a difficult question to answer, and maybe my own cautious apprehension to it is answer enough. But I also think it to be a tad unfair. What I will say is that it is a strong debut worth listening to at least once and is a refreshing take on the “dark metal” genre. I’m certain some of you may feel it’s derivative. Others may think it solid, but not exceeding expectations. All of these are valid in their own right, and I don’t think less of anyone who comes to this conclusion. But for me personally, it scratches an itch that needs to be scratched. Some songs are weaker than others when judged individually, but after multiple listens the album really works well when taken as a whole, as it is likely intended. While I still feel like it may take another album or two to truly find their own voice, Obsidian Arc is not only a solid debut, but likely will remain a strong contender for my favorite albums this year. Time will tell.

Planning for Burial - Below the House

By Justin C. When I first saw the cover for Planning for Burial's new album, Below the House, I immediately said, "That's Pennsylvania." There was probably a brief spike in my blood pressure, maybe the beginnings of a fight-or-flight reaction. I'm probably no different than anyone who grew up in a place where they never felt they belonged and fled as soon as possible

By Justin C.


When I first saw the cover for Planning for Burial's new album, Below the House, I immediately said, "That's Pennsylvania." There was probably a brief spike in my blood pressure, maybe the beginnings of a fight-or-flight reaction. I'm probably no different than anyone who grew up in a place where they never felt they belonged and fled as soon as possible, but the muted color palette and sense of gloom conveyed by that cover art is how most of my childhood memories from Pennsylvania look. Thom Wasluck, the man behind Planning for Burial, moved back to his childhood home to record Below the House, and when asked in an interview at CLRVYNT what moving back to Pennsylvania was like, he said, "Pretty awful. [Laughs]" You can read that interview for more insight into what it was like moving back and recording there, but given that "gloom" finds its way into most genre descriptions of Planning for Burial's work, you'll quickly figure out where you are on the emotional spectrum without the background story.

For our purposes, this is probably more of a metal-adjacent(tm) album review, although it fits in well with The Flenser’s catalog. There's harshness here, and if you were to listen to the opener, "Whiskey and Wine," with its heavy, Jesu-like undercurrent and black metal-like vocals, you might go in expecting a more metal album than what you're actually going to get. Sure, the third track, "Somewhere in the Evening" comes back in with that molten bottom end, and there are some shrieks buried deep in the mix, but the clean vocals on top make this feel like a conflict between listlessness and rage instead of a full-on barn burner.

More than anything, this is often sparse, vulnerable music. "Threadbare" accurately describes the music it contains. The vocals are clean, the music is at times minimal and stark, although there's also a warmth to it, as hard as it may be to pick out at times. There's a bit more fire to Below the House than Planning for Burial's last album, Desideratum, but the heaviness comes from mood, not volume. "Dull Knife, Part 1" might sound like heavier shoegaze or slowcore, but "Part II" is a singular-minded, almost plodding tune that builds so subtly that you might not even notice. The plaintive, repeated line, "Call me back home / calling me back," is damn near heart-breaking, even when additional guest voices join Wasluck.

I found this album difficult to listen to, but not because of rapid-fire time changes or overwhelming dissonances. This music is difficult because it cuts to your core if you let it in, and it taxes you emotionally. As I mentioned up top, I think this album carries a little more weight for me because Wasluck and I share Pennsylvania as the setting of perhaps not the most fun times, but beauty can still come from that. As the only lyrics for "Dull Knife, Part I" say, "This is the place I live / But it's not my home / This is the place I live / My roots don't grow." Get into this gloom and let it change you, and maybe even free you.