ninehertz

From Asheville, North Carolina, imbued with the spirits of their native Appalachian landscape, Sunbearer arrive with a simple stoner/doom premise, but bring so much more.

Uyaga has really hit a spot for me. The five tracks combine into a story greater than the sum of its parts, including the intro track, with its twang of guitar that could be banjo, and sinister atmosphere that sets a promising stage, as all good intros should (but all so infrequently do).

From there, the songs are grand and mature within doom worlds, considered pacing to allow time to breathe outwards. Sigil develops into a Sleep tone from there, and once erected doesn’t feel the need to expand, instead flows on its path, more Om than Sleep on the Cisneros scale in that sense, a single riff repeated along with gusty atmospherics.

Gnosis has a lovely opening on a simple doom line, then builds, excitement rising with it, settling into a groove that quickly becomes hypnotic. I find myself turning it up beyond my normal volume, just to absorb as much of it as I can. After the drone-ish meanderings of The Owl, the closing Sunbearer’s gentle throbs spawn a mesmeric state, with a nice touch of stoner rock particularly in the vocals embedded within its cloak.

The second and third tracks are outstanding, but this is more than a couple of high peaks – the album serves as one, without weakness, a really special, rounded record that I’ll be listening to for a some time to come.