Septic Mind - The Beginning
Like most atmospheric doom metal bands, Septic Mind are a band of few tracks and very lengthy songs. Those who dare venture on their second album, 'The Beginning,' should expect tracks that are over fifteen minutes and require a lot of focus. The music sounds along the lines of bands like Evoken and The Esoteric, which make a great use of a static laden atmosphere, long, slow guitar chords mixed with funeral hymn keyboards that are usually obscured and crackling, gutteral vocals that sound more like they're just there for effect more than conveying lyrics. But, it is beautiful in a depressive, doom metal sort of way. At first, the album kicks off with "The Beginning" which is heavy and chaotic in the distortion without much being able to be heard, but after a while as the track settles in the dissonant guitar strings can be picked up by the earhole much easier and just drones on in a dead sort of way, much in the way of how Evoken's guitars sound: hollow, ringing, and drenched in a heavy reverb that almost borders Sunn O, but it isn't as dense and repetitive. The vocals growl right along with the music and sound a lot better near the end of the track than the beginning due to less distortion and actually sound clear and discernable, if not remotely terrifying.
"The Misleading" is the shortest track on the album, but only by two minutes, which isn't saying much when the other tracks clock past twenty minutes. Like the first one, it starts out heavily layered in distortion and chaotic static while going at a very slow crawl before pausing in the middle for the chiming guitar notes that almost sound eastern in a way. The hypnotic effect is still there, but unless one is a big fan of the genre or can stand to sit through the same track for a long period of time, the magical effect may start to wear off. If one is lucky enough to reach the final, and longest track, "The Ones Who Left This World," they are treated a slow, plodding procession of doom. The drums take a more active role here and feature the ultimate funeral beat that is a direct road to death, and the guitars even change things up a bit by featuring a progressive slide as the chords crawl along right before a sudden repetitive cyclone of psychotic loopings of just crashing guitar notes that make the listener feel like they are trapped in the wake of a nightmare, which only enhances the doom metal effect, but at the same it may go on too long and become more annoying than mystical since this section only goes on for more than five minutes, all the way up to the end.
As said before, this is some pretty exciting funeral doom metal, but only meant for those who like funeral doom. The repetitive nature of the crushing atmosphere and distortion heavy tracks limit the accessiblity of the music which just crashes over and over. If one were to skip between the three tracks and pick out random parts, they probably wouldn't be able to tell they were listening to three different tracks. However, the atmosphere is perfect for the genre, and one can almost mellow out to the music... providing they don't freak out in the middle of a nightmare.
"The Misleading" is the shortest track on the album, but only by two minutes, which isn't saying much when the other tracks clock past twenty minutes. Like the first one, it starts out heavily layered in distortion and chaotic static while going at a very slow crawl before pausing in the middle for the chiming guitar notes that almost sound eastern in a way. The hypnotic effect is still there, but unless one is a big fan of the genre or can stand to sit through the same track for a long period of time, the magical effect may start to wear off. If one is lucky enough to reach the final, and longest track, "The Ones Who Left This World," they are treated a slow, plodding procession of doom. The drums take a more active role here and feature the ultimate funeral beat that is a direct road to death, and the guitars even change things up a bit by featuring a progressive slide as the chords crawl along right before a sudden repetitive cyclone of psychotic loopings of just crashing guitar notes that make the listener feel like they are trapped in the wake of a nightmare, which only enhances the doom metal effect, but at the same it may go on too long and become more annoying than mystical since this section only goes on for more than five minutes, all the way up to the end.
As said before, this is some pretty exciting funeral doom metal, but only meant for those who like funeral doom. The repetitive nature of the crushing atmosphere and distortion heavy tracks limit the accessiblity of the music which just crashes over and over. If one were to skip between the three tracks and pick out random parts, they probably wouldn't be able to tell they were listening to three different tracks. However, the atmosphere is perfect for the genre, and one can almost mellow out to the music... providing they don't freak out in the middle of a nightmare.
- The Beginning
- The Misleading
- The Ones Who Left This World
Label: http://solitude-prod.com
Reviewer: Colin McNamara
Apr 25, 2011
Apr 25, 2011
Next review:
Dysthmia - The Audient Void
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