One of the many great things about writing and reviewing for Ech(((o)))es and Dust is the freedom we have to choose the music and bands we want to review/write about. In most cases our brilliant editors allow us reviewers/writers the leeway to select what we feel we would enjoy dissecting and translating for the readers of the Ech(((o)))es and Dust website. In a way this is both good and bad. Good because I get to decide what I want to listen to and review but bad because I sometimes get stuck in a genre rut. In other words I very rarely step out of my musical comfort zone and try to expand my abilities as a writer into other genres and sub genres of music available to me through Ech(((o)))es and Dust. And because of this when I do find myself with an album that is advertised as something I would enjoy and turns out to be something completely different I am caught off guard and have to work very hard to come up with a proper review for the album. I don’t want to just blow something off because I am not comfortable with the differences but I have to push myself to really dig into the music and do my best to try and inform the readers of this website of the good and bad of the album.
This is where I find myself with the new album from Beneath The Storm. Advertised by the press release as “Drone-based Funeral Doom/Sludge Metal carnage”, I figured this album would be a great chance for me to straddle my comfort zones of sludge and doom while simultaneously being challenged by the intricacies that are drone. I listened to this album several times over, took copious notes and even researched other drone and funeral doom bands and albums to better acquaint myself with the genres. The end result of all of this work for this six song album Temples Of Doom? I spent way too much time on this album!
The problem with this album starts at the beginning and continues throughout. First this album is nowhere near sludge with the slight exception of screamed/growled vocals cut way in the back of the mix to add atmosphere. Second, if the Beneath The Storm would have focused more on capturing industrial sound of this album, which is very evident, it probably would have been a much more consistent album. Third, and this is my biggest issue, if you are going to use continuous movie/TV dialog in the songs at least give the listener an idea of why they are there or at least an inkling of why they are so constant throughout every song. If this is a concept album centered on whatever movie/TV show that is being featured in a song then give it some cohesiveness! Help us, the listener; make sense of the songs, at least in a small way. I will say, on a positive note, that the one thing that Beneath The Storm does do well is the drone. There is no mistaking the constant hum of drone throughout this entire album and it doesn’t change in tone or temple very much throughout the album. So there is that!
Look, the one thing I hate to do is write a review about an album that stands as mostly negative but in this case I have no choice. It is described as something it is not and I think it would be unfair for me to help perpetuate that misleading information. Is it a drone album? Yes! Is it sludge? Not even close! Is it funeral doom? Not really! Should you spend any more time than I did listening to this album? Less if you can help it!
Until later, Peace!
