Saturday 23 June 2012

ADRIFT FOR DAYS - COME MIDNIGHT (Album Review)

Come Midnight... cover art

Adrift For Days are a Sludge/Drone/Stoner/Doom/Post-Metal Band from Australia.

The members are:

Mick Kaslik - vocals, drone flute, fx
Steve Kachoyan - drums
Matt Williams - bass
Ron Prince - guitars
Lachlan Dale - guitars
Michael Taverner - live sound

If you’re a long time reader of this blog you know I am a massive fan of this amazing band. They totally blew my mind back in 2010 with their amazing debut album – The Lunar Maria. It was a 70 minute epic journey of Drone/Fuzz/Sludge/Stoner Metal riffs that struck a chord with many fans of the genre.

Adrift For Days sound like no other band I have heard in years. They became my fave act of recent years and I couldn’t wait to see what they delivered next. Well that time is now as they have a brilliant new album Come Midnight. Another 71 minute odyssey of amazing experimental Sludge/Stoner/Drone Metal tunes.

Come Midnight contains 6 sublime tracks that are very hard to categorize. You have Sludge, Drone, Stoner, Fuzz and Post-Metal which are all of my fave genres. As like their first album they even include some haunting tribal ambient riffs as well.

This album will just take over your mind, body and soul with its pulsating mix of Sludge/Drone/Stoner Metal riffs. There is no denying it. Adrift For Days have delivered another masterpiece of Modern Sludge/Stoner Metal.

The first track i.A Premonition ii.Void iii.The Aftermath is a 15 epic of psychedelic far out there riffs with great vocals to match. The song takes time in building the atmosphere of eerie ambient riffs. But when the loud riffage kicks do kick then they really do kick in big time. It starts off with a long drawn out Drone/Sludge Rock guitar that brings a forbidding sense of evil coming our way.

And sure enough around the 2 minute mark the vocals kick in. But after that it’s an epic monolithic journey that only Adrift For Days can deliver. The best part of the song is the final 4 minutes. The riffs are just first class and are expertly done. This is a song of despair told in 3 parts delivered by one of the finest upcoming bands in the genre.

Next up is another 8 minute journey of Sludge/Drone Metal wonder – Gravity Wall which adds more eerie atmosphere to the already populated Smoked Fuzz Encrusted Drone/Sludge world that has came before it. This is a song that will send chills down your soul with the creepy vocals and music portraying a sense of unease but with a creepy purpose as well.

Outstanding stuff so far.

Up next is another long drawn out masterpiece – The 13 minute – House Of Cards which has the perfect balance of Loud and Quiet Rock atmospherics with a truly breathtaking haunting ambient tribal passage amongst the underlying cold undertone. This song has some of the most haunting lyrics and vocals on the entire album that portrays a devastating picture at the end.

Listen this at your peril. You will be amazed by the different styles and genres this song has or even the album has by now. I was just totally sold on this amazing album on the first listen. I couldn’t believe to what I was listening to.

The album next takes a short breather as the 4 minute song – The Stonebreaker slows things right down in speed, scope and structure but still providing a cool ambient drone rock driven atmosphere. Before the last two epics resume business in crushing your soul.

You think with two songs remaining there would only be a short time remaining. Not really. You have 30 minutes more of top-notch Sludge/Drone/Stoner/Post-Metal riffs to shatter your spirit to.

Back From The Beyond is a 10 minute epic with more brutal hypnotic Sludge/Stoner Metal Carnage with the cool drone rock driving it through to a shattering climax.

The next track is an almost 20 minute epic called – Eyes Look Down From Above. This is where the band pay homage to legendary Drone Rockers – Earth. As this song has an Earth type feel. It’s primarily driven by a sublime Drone Rock Riff with loud blasts of Sludge/Stoner/Post-Metal coming through at different times of the song.

Haunting Vocals are there accompanied by a sub-dued ambient tribal echo being mixed into outstanding effect. This song can be very bleak at times but shows best what brilliant musicians these guys actually are.

Come Midnight leaves The Lunar Maria in its wake and shows a band on the verge of true greatness. This album should hopefully put Adrift For Days on the international map as a band to be reckoned with.

This is my fave record of 2012. I know I have said this on previous occasions with other releases but no other release has got my emotions into overdrive. This is the rare occasion where every second, minute and riff just had my jaw dropping to the floor. I don’t think any other album will come close to this. This is about as close to perfection as you can possibly get to.

I have listened to this album non-stop since I received it earlier this week. It’s a truly breathtaking record that should be called a classic. And a record that Adrift For Days should be proud of and applauded for.

Adrift For Days will be available to buy from July 15th 2012. I recommend you get your copy..

Highly Recommended.

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