By Richard Maw
Album Type: Full Length
Date Released: 14/12/2015
Label: Doomentia Records
With an excellent album cover that recalls “Never Say Die”, the band let you know what they are about- spacey and heavy stoner rock/doom with plenty of Sabbath and a little Fu Manchu thrown in there. You have a guitar in your left ear, the bass in your right and drums and vocals in the middle in this wall of sound type production. If you want some stoner/doom to start the year off, then this is a fine choice. A great record that you can play all the way through and just enjoy.
“Endless Flight” CD//DD//LP
1).Endless Flight
2). The Tomb
3). Tres Madres
4). Black Words
5). Shaman’s March
Aaron Esterby | Vocals, bass
Neil Stein | Guitars
The Review:
Dakota and fuzz are not something you would necessarily put together, but I can tell you that the state and the sound combine here with Egypt
The riffs come thick, but laid back and the rhythm section adds real swing to the opening title track. You get five tracks over 35 minutes plus of excellent grooves and thick guitars. With an excellent album cover that recalls “Never Say Die”, the band let you know what they are about- spacey and heavy stoner rock/doom with plenty of Sabbath and a little Fu Manchu thrown in there. You have a guitar in your left ear, the bass in your right and drums and vocals in the middle in this wall of sound type production.
“The Tomb” sets up a classic Sabbath style groove (there is also a tambourine overdub- excellent) before the full weight of sound and vocals come crashing in. The vocals, incidentally, are gruff, but not fully growled, think a more chilled out Matt Pike and you are getting there. The drums are live sounding, but soft in tone and attack. “Tres Madres” has more focused propulsion in that it does not swing, necessarily, but the groove is still very much there. The track is based around riffs with stops (a trick Helmet used to employ to great effect) which only accentuates the weight of riffage.
“Black Words” follows with a riff straight out of the more experimental side of “...In Search of” by the aforementioned Fu Manchu. Over the course of its eight minutes, the band lengthen their stride and lumber forwards with fuzz drenched heft. The vocals don't even come in until nearly three minutes have passed and they take on a harsher tone, while the tempo stays slow. A rolling groove brings the track to a close.
Finally, this LP is finished with “Shaman's March”, a weighty and plodding affair (as you might expect!) with plenty of doom. In fact, probably the most doom laden track on the album! This is a downbeat and appropriate way to end this record of many moods. It has light and shade aplenty, but with the focus being on the light overall, perhaps.
If you want some stoner/doom to start the year off, then this is a fine choice. A great record that you can play all the way through and just enjoy.
