Halmos is a Psychedelic Sludge/Stoner Metal Band from Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
The members are:
Travis Anderson (drums, vocals)
Corey Briley (guitar, vocals)
Melanie Maher (bass, vocals)
Casey Yarbrough (guitar, vocals)
Halmos are a band influenced by bands such as Kyuss, Sleep, Mastodon, Baroness, The Melvins and Kylesa, But they have cool vibe which is most definitely their own. A psychedelic loud wall of noise to crush everything around you.
Their stunning debut album – EXIST – is a 7 song and 46 minute pummelling affair of great riffs that has a cool psych trippy edge all the way through.
First track – The Unconditioned – has a strange vibe around. Lo-fi based heavy drums and bass guitars playing off each other like their lives depended on it. The vocals have a stop-start approach that gives the track a weird and offbeat vibe though in a good way. Definitely, a great track to start the album.
Patterns is the next track to fully immerse the listener with Halmos style of Sludge/Stoner Metal. Vocals are sang at a mid-tempo pace but one which is packed full of anger from the start. Heavier pounding bass driven guitar riffs come out of nowhere and make you feel you are an unwelcome guest in Halmos world. However, stick with it that track has a cool Zoroaster style vibe near the end. Mainly with the dreamlike-based vocals that offer a brief rest before the heavy vocals, take over once again. It is a great song full of heavy atmospherics to show you what great musicians Halmos actually are.
Antithesis Superstructure is another brilliantly titled song that shows you how creative Halmos actually are. Insane song titles to match the crazy pummelling riffs on show. This is one of the more fast-paced songs on the album. The 3:30 minutes quickly flies by as your too busy head banging along to the superb riffs on show.
Up next is Excursion into Chaos that has vocals reminiscent from a 90’s Noise/Grunge Rock band not a hard-hitting Sludge/Stoner Metal band like HALMOS. However, it works it gives the album a great experimental edge before the heavier sludgier vocals come back to play. The drumming is amped upto maximum levels here. Your ears will be screaming for a break after this track due to the heavy drums laid down on the track.
That is how the album plays out for the remaining excellent five tracks or show. Crazy Sludge/Stoner Metal riffs mixed with insane clean/harsh vocals. At times, you wonder how they decided to match clean psych based vocals with fuzz based Sludge/Stoner Metal riff especially on excellent track – Outcry. It should not work but Halmos have made it work brilliantly.
Halmos have created a weird and wonderful amusement park for Sludge/Stoner Metal fans to come and play at. As Exist plays out like a trippy rollercoaster ride full of twists and turns that, you want to experience over and over again. It has enough power beneath the riffs to take you to places you can only dream about.
Yeah it has a few parts inspired by Sleep’s legendary masterpiece – DS and even OM’s latest superb albums but Halmos are still a great band in their own right. Exist has huge layers of Fuzz running through its veins which is quite rare for a Sludge/Stoner Metal band. The reverberations of the instruments will either have you turning down the volume or turning it up to get more out of the album.
Another highlight of the album are the lyrics. Halmos have written some excellent lyrics to match the awesome music on show. It gives the album a real edge as it shows Halmos have taken their time in writing some far-out lyrics to confuse and delight the listener with.
Exist is a stunning debut album from these excellent Psychedelic Stoner Rockers. It has the potential to show Halmos as one of the best upcoming Psychedelic Sludge/Stoner Metal bands currently out there at the moment.
Excellent and Highly Recommended.
Exist is now available to buy from BandCamp will be available to buy from April 16th from all good digital outlets such as Spotify and iTunes. Buy it. You will not be sorry.
Thanks to the band for sending me a copy to review. Much appreciated.
Check The Band from the links below.
BandCamp
