By: Jay Hampshire
Album Type:
Full
Length
Date Released:
01/04/2017
Label:
STB
Records
there are moments of majestic riffing and an impressive amount of
variation on offer
“Vae Victis” DD//CD//LP track listing
1.
Vae Victis (9:30)
2.
Dysthiest (6:20)
3.
Immanentize The Eschaton (Jim Jones Instrumental) (4:43)
4.
Scum Of The Earth (7:03)
5.
The Room Of The Torch (7:36)
6.
Green Scar (6:09)
The Review:
If
you’re not up to snuff on your Latin,
‘Vae Victis’, the title of the second full length from Seattle based
psych-doomsters Wounded Giant, roughly translates as “woe to
the conquered”. While this might conjure images of a record full of mighty
battle hymns and victorious fist-pumping metal, the six tracks and near hour of
riffing tells a much different story.
The
title track opens the show with a ghostly rush, approaching as if from a great
distance. It’s loud and immediate, settling into a groove buoyed by tumbling,
scattered toms and military snare roll snaps. The main riff grinds and thunders
like a slightly slower Slomatics, loping along
before locking in and slowing down into an Electric Wizardian
buzzing guitar line. When the band start to crawl it’s much more menacing,
switching up into tension building section before dropping into a tasty groove
with snatches of deep bass. There’s a lot of variation here, but it’s the
conclusion of the track where things really pick up, a maze of twin wandering
guitars.
‘Dystheist’
is all scuzzy bass and tribal drumming, growling feedback and swaggering
guitars pitching the band between a slightly lighter Conan and
a less woolly Mastodon. ‘Immanentize The Eschaton’ (you kiss your mother with that mouth?)
chimes like an old school Hammond organ, a wah heavy bass undertow and lazy
drums joined by punchy chords and a pulsing synth loop, muddled in with vocal
samples that too be honest is a tad tough to comprehend. ‘Scum
Of The Earth’ is swollen with sludgy weight, straining vocals riding out
the deep, bluesy undertones, a muted chugging drive dragging us through. It’s
less changeable and varied than the previous, but the psyched out guitar
layers, droning vocals and frantic drumming make it seem like you’re falling
into a tunnel of brown acid. ‘The Room
Of The Torch’ shimmers and wavers, guitars tentatively licking in, forming
into a righteous riff reminiscent of The Sword. Satisfying
stuff, energetic and well executed, even if the climax is a little on the
standard side.
‘Green Scar’
is slow, foreboding and buzzy. Sighing vocals and striding riffs match pace
with restless, cymbal heavy drums, but for the album’s zenith, it seems a
little weak and directionless. The latter word is perhaps a decent, if harsh,
summary of the record. While there are moments of majestic riffing and canny
song structure here (and an impressive amount of variation), there’s no sense
of real unification of purpose. Coupled with some vocals that err a little too
much on the ‘spirited amateur’ side of things, some lyrics that are a little
too ’14 year old writing in the back page of a school book’, plus a music scene
saturated with bands doing this exact thing (and often better), and ‘Vae Victis’ more likely won’t find its
way into your heavily rotated records.
“Vae Victis”
is available here
