Tuesday 13 January 2015

LOIMANN - Drowning Merged Tantras (Album Review)


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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