Soma by Windhand

Richmond's Windhand have just released their Relapse debut and fans of doom and gloom will rejoice, but this album might speak to fans outside the genre as well. I catch whiffs of shoegaze, and there are a few drone sections that might appeal to fans of that genre, the masochists. 

Soma kicks off with the track "Orchard", and sets the heavy/haunting tone of the album. "Woodbine" contains a chorus that will move even the most stoic of metal heads. If you see Windhand live I bet you'll catch a few in the audience moving their lips when this one plays. "Feral Bones" is as thick a a Sequoia trunk. "Evergreen" is a haunted tune that is carried by acoustic guitar and Dorthia's vocals. If you're with me this far, the other tunes will please you just as much. There's only two of them, but they clock in just under 45 minutes.

The album is brilliant, there are layers to be uncovered, deep visceral feelings to be felt through the sonic stimulation of the tunes. You'll get lost in these riffs, find yourself transcending this plane, but then a solo will pop up and bring you back down to Earth. The album is haunting, heavy, and excellent. 

The cover, as you can see above, is a pic of a desolate shack in the middle of some foreboding woods, and after listening to the album, I'm convinced that this shack is their recording studio. Not because the music sounds lo-fi or isn't well produced, it's not that at all, it's that the emotion and vibe couldn't have been captured in some studio next to a 7 Eleven.

And the compulsory who meets who record review comparison? Pallbearer meets Acid King? Why not.

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I bet Windhand is on Bigfoot's Ipod.

In Case You Missed It: Cough/Windhand - Reflection of the Negative

It wasn't all that difficult for me to discover that I'd missed this split from two of Richmond's heaviest exports, because the stench from this kind of filth just grows stronger with age.  Apparently this mold covered masterpiece has been festering and fermenting since its release back in April, so now seems like the perfect time for me to feed it to you good people.  Featuring a single, sickly saga from Cough that clocks in at over eighteen minutes and two equally depressing dirges from Windhand that, when combined, span the same, Reflection of the Negative contains enough disheartening doom to keep you looking nervously over your shoulder for the foreseeable future.   

Let's start with Cough's offering, which is an epic monstrosity called "Athame," appropriately named for the ceremonial dagger used in rituals and witchcraft…in case you were wondering.  Joey Arcaro's colossal drums open this calamity, setting the tempo of a snail's march, before the unmistakably chilling sounds of an organ's grind creep into the mix.  Guitarists David Cisco and Brandon Marcey enter the fray with suffocatingly heavy riffs, as does bassist Parker Chandler (the common link between these two bands) whose ghastly gurgle completes this wretched refrain.  Collectively, Cough lulls you into a coma for the first half of the song's run time and then violently shifts gears by altering the rhythm, adding ample amounts of feedback and distortion that become more ominous as Chandler chants, "the time has come for sacrifice."  The apex of this heinous hymn is reached at around thirteen minutes (appropriately), when the band lurches into a bonafide groove laced with enough wickedness to leave Electric Wizard cowering over in the corner.  You're gonna want to check this one out.   

While just as foreboding, Windhand's contributions to Reflection of the Negative are less gradual, which is simply to say, they get right to the point.  Other than a brief introduction of feedback and reverb from Asechiah Bogdan and Garrett Morris, "Amaranth" boils over immediately when the guitarists' down-tuned riffs combine with the rhythm section of drummer Ryan Wolfe and of course, bassist Parker Chandler, to create a gloriously demented rumble that could easily wake the dead.  Dorthia Cottrell's ethereal vocals emerge as if through a haze created by the band's dense and heavy sound and the resulting amalgam is astounding.  "Shepherd's Crook" is the second track from Windhand, and its both longer, at nearly eleven minutes, and more unsettling than it's predecessor.  Opening with a buzzsaw guitar that drills its way into your conscience, the band eventually settles into an unsettling drone that'll leave you trance-like, until a guitar solo takes shape in the foggy chaos and you latch onto it like a lifeline.  Cottrell's muffled moans reach at you as if from the grave and before you know it, Windhand have you thinking bad, bad thoughts.  This is the sound of doom my friends…dirty, filthy doom.  You should do your best not to miss this one.

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