ninehertz

I’m not normally attracted to live albums – they feel a relic of time for an event I was not party to, offering rougher versions of songs already known. Yet Vinnum Sabbathi offered an appealing case to the contrary – not only an excellent band, but one who are superb live because their songs translate so well.

A year on from their last recorded album, Live at Doom City was captured in their Mexico City home, resident to a plethora of fantastic doom and psych over the years, all who have presumably featured on the festival alluded to in the title.

There are five songs in a forty-minute set, featuring the whole of their last album Intersatelital and one song each from their two prior long players. The recording is excellent, the enthusiasm of the cheering crowd placed well in the mix, helping bring you into the setting. Anyone who has seen Vinnum Sabbathi on stage knows they translate their recorded output exceptionally in the flesh – their branded pattern of patient post-rock, space exploration sampling and weighty doom outpourings truly comes alive, and can be heard fully here.

The rawer feel of a live record actually suits the doom elements, particularly on In Search of M-Theory, which ends to fan chants of “Vinnum! Vinnum!”. As Rodolfo Neri Vela ends, with lush post-rock and psych sitting side by side with coarse doom which launches midway in gigantic fuzz joy, sucking you into its black hole, you feel the cosmic pulsations, you feel the full effect of Vinnum Sabbathi, and, crucially, you feel that same sense of euphoria you only get at gigs.