ninehertz

A split release between two Parisian trios, both already dealing in claustrophobic doom but ramping up that approach for this special collaboration – both submitting one track each of behemothic length and aspiration.

Malemort are previously unknown to me but make a profound impression across the eighteen minutes of Aimless. It is slow and deliberate, a sense it practically trips over the notes which is as well as it’s the only source of momentum. Strained vocals emanate, as you would imagine from such torpor, a lethargy that draws a state of stupefaction, a feeling of being weighed down in place by its sheer stagnancy. This is how sludge infected doom should be, but even taking that into account, it pushes at its extremity.

I’m barely eight minutes through but it feels much longer, an aeon of inaction and desperation. It changes ever so slightly after ten minutes, moving to a shimmering menace, something of a riff stomping out of the mire which sounds both filthy and massive but also as a relief, of rescue. It turns into a sludge beast, wonderfully, collapsing from the effort a few minutes later; wallowing then for a while as if catching breath ahead of one final trudge to its eventual end. This is fantastic in every moment, I’ll be following Malemort closely from here on.

Cerbère are a known quantity – we have featured their two EPs to date – the most recent making our releases of 2023 list – and I had the pleasure of seeming them live last summer when they toured the UK. Their doom credentials have already been checked. Yet still… it didn’t prepare me for this. Glace Mère clocks in at over sixteen minutes, opening with a fierce wind before fiercer vocals take over. There’s a decrepit, horror death metal aesthetic but it is of course firmly in sludge worlds of pain staking lumbering gait and thick-toned venomous guitars. It maintains this for seven minutes of torturous strain, only then showing some variance and relative extravagance.

After a quiet breather it returns, more doom than sludge with its wistful aura, the song evolving subtly and skilfully, the guitars practically soloing away. It’s not what you’d normally hear but it works fantastically, almost moving into stoner rock worlds but operating still within the dark cloud forecast, sustained right through to its end.

Malemort’s track is fantastic, a band to keep a close eye on from now on. Cerbère match it with a magical song. This is a split of two wonderful tracks, showcasing how sludge can take on the longform, and through deft evolution can create these monolithic sagas that are wonderous to explore.