Drawn like a moth to the flame through their association with Church Road Records, I was keen to hear the new album from Brighton band Matador. Entitled Above, Below, And So the trio have created a very solid collection of psychedelic infused atmospheric doom. Mixed and produced by vocalist/guitarist James Kirk, he also recorded a lot of the instrumentation himself, but the band are listed as including bassist Mark Ainsworth and drummer Scott Stronach.
Thick sludgy guitars slowly drip like molten lava down the hillside on opener ‘The House Always Wins’. Like Russian Circles, there’s a heady melodic guitar line wandering freely before James Kirk lets rip with a throaty rasp that borders on black metal style. Ghostly backing vocals provide a haunting atmospheric. ‘Glitter Skin’ features sky scraping soars over super heavy doom riffs. James rolls back from the full throttle vocals to reveal a soulful understated melody as the guitars swirl beneath him. Building with some clever dynamics the track rises in volume and deeper layers of guitars ebb and flow.
A waspish guitar hovers over waves of doom inflected guitars introducing ‘The Flood’. Those waters don’t take long to get choppy with studio drummer Finn Keane flexing with some hefty battering. James tosses out some stunning melodic guitar lines and it’s a mighty noise before the track winds down to a languid passage of tenderness with a spoken voice adding some intrigue. The elongated throb of heavy distorted guitars that permeate ‘O Suna’ echo the mighty Sunn O))) with their weight.
Eery tones start ‘A Virus’ as cleaner guitars lead the way. Ending the calm, a hefty riff drops before we rage hard into a black metal/doom fusion, James’ voice shredding to pieces. Stretching out like a giant waking from his slumber the track upends as James switches to a more blues-orientated croon. The guitars flicker over Mark Ainsworth’s sturdy bass. Throughout the expansive 10 minutes the track twists and turns and keeps you fully engaged. Album closer ‘Hooks’ is powered by a propulsive riff and tumbling drums. James soars with a snaking melody, sounding a little like Scott Weiland at times. I mentioned Russian Circles at the start of my review and the way ‘Hooks’ jumps about reminds of them again. This is a mighty noise for a trio, just like the post-metal titans. The colossal stack of riffs and thunderous drums that bring the album to a close leave the listener most satisfied.
The appeal of bands like Matador lives and dies with the tone of the guitars and they’ve got a really satisfying weighty fuzz going on. Whilst not exactly breaking new ground, Matador have enough about them to keep the listener engaged as they combine weighty riffs with superb melodies from both the guitar and vocals, courtesy of James Kirk.
