Album Type: Full Length
Date Released: 13/06/2019
Label: Obsidian Sky Records
Eternal Black have once again delivered
an excellent record and represent the best of the American doom genre today. Masterful
stuff.
“Slow Burn
Suicide” DD track listing:
1). All These Things Destroy You…
2). Lost in the Fade
3). Below
4). The Ghost
5). Sum of All fears
6). A Desert
of No
7). Three Fates
8). Sinners, Saints, and Madmen
9). All these Things (Slight Return)
The Review:
As
the record progresses, it becomes clear that the trio have lost none of their
knack for “the riff” or self loathing. As Wohlrob asks “How low have I sunk?!”
you feel the integrity in the vocal delivery. On the likes of “The Ghost”, there is a hint- well, more
than a hint, of the band spreading their wings beyond traditional American Doom
to encompass something that might be more akin to Fu Manchu or even COC. Don't mistake this for a stoner album, as
it is not, but there are echoes of other genres to go with the more obvious
nods towards Saint
Vitus et. al.
Eternal
Black
still know how to hammer their point home with riffs that are beaten
relentlessly into the listener's consciousness and pacing quick enough to get
the head nodding, but slow enough to please the most discerning doom head. “Sum of All Fears” and “A Desert of No Name” are equally blunt
in their heavier than thou opening riffage, but the latter is a more dynamic
affair which allows the trio to sound more than a three piece. It takes skill
to do that, particularly when working in a genre that is not well known for
aural subtlety. It's also excellent to hear a cowbell placed firmly front and
centre on any doom track.
The
close-to-three-minutes of “Three Fates”
represents a creepy acoustic/electric departure with percussive flourishes that
invokes Nick
Cave and The Bad Seeds more than, say, Pentagram and it is an excellent
change of approach and pace that allows the latter third of the album to feel
like a suite in its own right. “Sinners,
Saints and Madmen “is whah'd (not a
word!) out and features wonderful riffing and a soulful bent to its delivery.
The jazzy inflections present on earlier work are present and correct here and
lend the track a schizophrenic feel. It's sublimely played and deftly handled.
The best comparison I can give is perhaps that it is akin to reading a Henry
Miller novel like Plexus; it's one thing one minute and something else the
next.
The
closing “All These Things (Slight
Return)” echoes the opening statement of the record and is just as powerful
at the end as it is at the beginning. The two tracks frame the album expertly
and book end the journey that plays out in between. Once again, Eternal Black
have delivered an excellent record. It's wider in scope than “Bleed
The Days” but delivered with equal conviction. This album is for all
those people who have been jamming the new Vitus record endlessly and want some more
doom... but something that bit different. Maybe it's something in the water in
Brooklyn, maybe Peter Steele is still communicating from beyond the grave but
whatever it is, Eternal Black have got IT and they represent the best of the
American doom genre today. Masterful.
“Slow
Burn Suicide” is available HERE
