Alluvion marks twenty years of musical collaboration between the American black/drone/doom metal artists Mizmor (מזמור) and Hell from the state of Oregon. The two school friends, Matthew Scott Williams (Hell), also known as M.S.W., and Anthony Liam Neighbors (Mizmor), also known as A.L.N., released a split album, Hell/Mizmor, in 2014 and have served as session players for one another or contributed to bands they have been part of together. Alluvion is the result of a bottom-up surge of creativity that finally came to fruition after several decades.
Four tracks lead us into a fascinating canyon of doom, a story about psychological turmoil, touching on emotions that feel both painfully familiar and hauntingly alien. Meditative, tranquil passages ignite into stretched soul-shattering sludge metal riffs. Engulfing, blackened billows of doom erupt from hidden chasms, punctuated by the unsettling voices of beings desperately clawing their way out of fissures carved by mental suffering.
Alluvion is a harrowing odyssey — one that relentlessly pushes toward a necessary and cleansing form of catharsis. This piece of sound art serves as a spyglass through which the bewildering landscapes of the mind are revealed — a vessel for deep self-exploration across the fractured terrains of the human psyche.
It might be too early to talk about a year-end list album, but Mizmor & Hell cut deep with this razor-sharp record, showcasing a versatile approach with two guitars, two voices, bass, and drums. Alluvion feeds—addictively—both the ears, the mind, and the pumping bloodstream with excellent doom metal, etching atmospheric pathways of darkness. A must for fans of doom, sludge and black metal.
