Album
Type:
Album
Date
Released:
February 2015
Label:
Behold
The Ruins Records
Drowning
Merged Tantras – Track Listing
Intro – One Last
Fiery Thrill
Creed Erase Us All
Haeresis
Worsen Flow
Middle – Lock Your
Gist Within Your Creed
Morbid Conclave
D.iS.M.al III
Tantras... Drowned
Outro – Ecce Homo
Bio
The band officially
born in 2001 under the influence of major stoner bands (Kyuss, Fu
Manchu, Monster Magnet etc), with the singing that, initially is in
italian.
After the
realization of three autoproduced (from 2003 to 2006), various live
activity in Piemonte (Turin's region) gigs with foreigner bands like,
Demons, Volt, Deville, or italian like Dead Elephant, Cani Sciorri,
Radio Black Out Festival, gigs in Piemonte, Liguria, France, Spain,
etc.
After some lineup
changes the band reaches his stability with the actual trio: Fabio
(vox/guit), Dario (bass) and Enrico (drum). The sound of the band,
however, changes in the last two tears, leaving the mere stoner
influences (like in the beginning and on the first three cds), for a
more doom/heavy psych approach and with a consistent dilation of the
songs. The band finished to record/mix/master his Towards Higher
Consciousness album in 2010 at Danny Giordana (sound engineer with
Monster Magnet, Hatebreed, Eye Hate God, and Ozzfest amongst others)
One Voice Studios ( www.onevoicestudio.it).
After that, several
other live experiences within Italy (together onstage with
intarnational acts like Los Natas, Crippled Black Phoenix), and
abroad (Montpellier, Mende, Barcellona). Nowadays, after a long
period writing new heavier and more extreme material, recording it
together with Danilo Battocchio (Last Minute to' Jaffna, Tutti i
Colori del Buio, Bare Teeth Records), the band played some gigs
together with Celeste during Summer 2014. The new album (mastering by
Lorenzo Stecconi from Lento) should see the light in late 2014,
promising a heavier and thicker sound.
Review:
Loimann
release their 2nd album - Drowning Merged Tantras - and it is a
strange hybrid of Progressive Sludge, Stoner and Doom Metal. The
album opens up with the drone based nightmarish track - One Last
Fiery Thrill - that combines with a haunting soundclip from an
Italian movie. I do not know what the speech says but I can tell it
is quite disturbing as Loimann add terrifying noises to provide a
chilling experience.
2nd
track - Creed Erase Us All - that features a mixture of Psychedelic
Sludge with fast-paced vocals to match. Loimann create a bleak world
of demonic and filthy riffs where you can feel the heavy pounding
bass and drums coming to claim your soul. Loimann are in a bleak mood
through out this album. It is a dark and depressing tale that will
leave you feeling very low and angry at the world. 3rd track -
Haeresis - is one of the albums epic tracks lasting almost 9 minutes.
It is a stirring tale with progressive sludge/stoner metal riffs with
a glut of clean/death based growls showing Loimann's darker and
twisted side. Italian Sludge/Stoner Metal Bands always have the
ability of sounding different to other bands within the scene and
Loimann are no exception.
The
sound of the album is confident through out with a dark undercurrent
of warped creativity waiting to explode with each passing moment. The
progressive side of Loimann's music brings up some interesting ideas
that take time to fully understand. Shades of early Mastodon appear
here and there though with ambient sounds to turn the atmosphere into
one of doom and gloom. The rest of the album does not really change
from the first few songs but do not let that put you off, as this
album is a masterclass of experimental progressive sludge/stoner/doom
metal.
The
vocals may take time getting used to but you cannot deny how powerful
and creative they are. As they are one of the albums strongest points
as Lead Vocalist has an intriguing style that ventures between clean
vocals to the more demonic death based shrieks and growls. The 2nd
half of the album ventures more into Stoner Metal sounds with airs of
demonic fuzz filling the air especially one of the albums best tracks
- Morbid Conclave - that sees Loimann finally becoming more confident
with their musical surroundings. The doom and gloom atmosphere is
still there but Loimann focus on bringing different aspects to their
music for one exciting ride. The album is undeniably loud so you may
need to turn the volume down a bit when listening to the album. Not
that I am complaining about how heavy it is.
I
had this album played on a low setting on my MP3 Player and was
impressed at how loud it actually is compared to other albums I have
listened to recently. So KUDOS for the production and sound of the
album as Loimann have really excelled here. Drowning Merged Tantras
is an album that demands your full attention as it is a complex study
with Loimann exploring different ideas and moods that will bring out
an emotional response from you. Later tracks such as - D.iS.M.al III
and Tantras Drowned showcase the heaviest sounds on the album in both
music and vocals as Loimann create one epic final push for
progressive sludge/stoner metal superiority.
It
is a thrilling ride that see Loimann summon up all their musical
might to crush your spirit with. At 60 mins long, this album will
test some listeners’ patience but if you are a fan of epic
progressive albums then Loimann is a band you need to check out.
Drowning Merged Tantras is an excellent album to return with. It is a
powerful statement of intent from these progressive sludge/stoner
metallers. This is an album you simply must own.
Drowning
Merged Tantras will be available to buy on CD/DD via Behold The Ruins Records. A Vinyl Release will hopefully follow later in the year.
Words
by Steve Howe
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