ninehertz

The doom scene in Reykjavik that transmitted its misery across the oceans in the shape of bands like Morpholith, Volcanova and Pthumulhu appears to be alive and well, based on Slor’s mountainous Eternal Mirror and its four tracks across nearly an hour’s play time.

Strap in, as the songs are dark, deep rides into the abyss. Universal Calling is a superb opening proposition, where crunching guitars knock you off your feet after its short sample beginning. There’s a Conan element to its brute base doom riffs and vocal stylings, but it is darker, from the more desperate, bleaker end of the sound, into doom-drone of the likes of Teleost, addictive dirty fuzz grief in that the repeating sludge mess of a riff is like a downer drug you can’t get enough of.

The following Cosmic Reflections is a tad overburdened by its bulk to become a little directionless, just existing in a doom fug, constrained by its density rather than mastering it. They begin to wrestle it back, vocals with a distant echo that brings in a trad/occult doom thought along the lines of Witchsorrow, a nice moment where it dips down just before eleventh minute, into the quiet bluesy chill of classic stoner/doom, like the opening of Funeralopolis. They’re content wallowing serenely through to the end for the best segment of the track.

Supergod falls into some of the same traps too, never getting going despite a cool droning drawn out Electric Wizard impression at one point, but there’s a nice upturn on the closing Sky Mountain, with its deep and dirty sludge vibe. It’s like a thicker-toned Bongzilla – you can even hear faint strains of their classic Stone A Pig echoing within this green-hazed soul – staggering along on its riff as if (suitably) intoxicated.

The album never quite matches the heights of its first offering, but that is more down to how much they nail the elongated stoner, doom, sludge approach there. It is a record of adventure, through the doom undergrowths and across the stoner plains, one with a palpable engagement if you allow yourself to truly be led by its rich and dense doom-toned guiding hand.