Bast are a 3 piece doom band from London, DOOOOM! They have been on the circuit for 6 years now, sharing the stage with the likes of Ufomammut, Bong and Winterfylleth and deliver a rather blistering live show. However, recording wise they’ve only ever had a rather dodgy demo to their name but here they are finally with a full-length album called Spectres, which has some rather delicious artwork featuring three morbid ladies in the Malleus Rock Lab style... nice. Just to make it even more appealing it’s being released by Black Bow Records, founded by Jon Davis from Conan…. let’s get stuck in!
We begin with ‘In the Beginning’, see what they did there? Anyway they fire into some proper black metal. Yes that’s right black metal, I have never noticed when I have seen them live (probably because I was in a state) but they sound like a black metal band. Not only that but a really fucking great black metal band. It’s not long before they are smashing into some doom though and we realise there’s some fusion at work here which is delivering on every level. They have two vocalists, one pumping out the black metal snarl and the other more doom/post-metal growl which keeps things very dynamic and exciting. Around the 5.30 mark a brand new slower even doomier riff kicks in and it’s like what the fuck am I listening to? YESS! It all sounds very primitive, like you have been teleported onto a mountain having a joint whilst watching an ancient and bloody battle like it’s a major sporting event. There is a real timeless feel dominant throughout the whole thing which makes it feel like the album could genuinely have been made thousands of years ago, EPIC!
That’s all I can say about this really, EPIC! I’m really glad they took so long to put out their first full length as you can tell so much love went into this, the level of detail is amazing and there is absolutely no filler whatsoever. The title track ‘Spectres’ is just ridiculous, brutal heaviness before flying into a jaw dropping psychedelic jam, it’s unbelievable and if you like Sardonis or Lesbian then you are firmly in the right place.
So there you have it, there are five tracks and they are all absolutely killer. Track length goes up to around the 12 minute mark leaving room to tell a story, about what I’m not sure but it is filled with both beauty and tragedy. It’s a doom a classic… people will discuss it in line with Bongripper’s Satan Worshipping Doom and Electric Wizard’s Dopethrone and I’m not exaggerating whatsoever. If you are a doom band and making an album this year, you best taken a listen to this as Bast have set the bar stupidly high.
