You can’t pop down the shop to grab a pint of milk without bumping into a doom band these days. There are loads of them and they are everywhere, I honestly think there’s going to be some epic Lord of the Rings style battle between doom bands and the rest of the world soon, what a fucking day that’s going to be. I’ll on the side of the doom bands, back at camp being chef or something. Anyway, a tidal wave of tuned down, maxed out acts has brought out the best in everyone and 2014 looks to be the official year of doom. Bong, Conan and Slomatics have all brought out their best albums to date and there has also been a jaw dropping debut from Bast. So will any other releases from so early in the year stick in the memory? Edinburgh’s Jackal Headed Guard Of The Dead hope so with their third album Exaanum. Apart from having a name which is pretty impossible to remember, they play instrumental fuzzy stuff, that’s what I like to hear so let’s get balls deep.
It kicks off with ‘Ultra Cult’, a title which sounds like it’s been pinched from Electric Wizard and it’s not long before you realise they are hugely inspired by them. Nothing wrong with that, most doom bands take inspiration from the heavy weights from Dorset and simply deliver watered down twaddle. However these guys have some real power behind the riffs… spacey, fuzzy and downright catchy.
I do have a slight issue with the production, it’s a little tinny. It feels less like a punishing stack of Orange amps and more like a product of fiddling around in someone’s bedroom. This is a real shame as the riffs are there. They speed up, slow down and take you on a real little journey as any good doom album should; it just needs to be backed up by meatier production.
‘Crushed By Dread’ is a complete diamond, a delicate little riff with a wonderful tone making it almost kraut like. The bass is heavy, almost crushing and love the Electric Wizard style lead. I would compare them to bands such as Sardonis, Bongzilla, Tank 86 and even Boris at times, good shit. ‘Covenant Of The Gargoyle’ is epic, one huge fast and meaty psych jam, if I saw them live that’s when I would completely lose my shit.
This is more than a solid effort, as I said the songs are certainly there but just has slightly been let down by the production. Maybe if this was years ago I’d be shouting from the rooftops but they have some insane competition this year and they are not quite at the level of Conan or Slomatics. I’m going to keep an eye on these as a few tweaks would elevate them to epic levels, they sound like they would absolutely destroy live too.
