ALBUM REVIEW: Un, "Sentiment"

By: Richard Maw


Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 28/09/2018

Label: Translation Loss

For listeners prepared to take this grim journey, there are impressive rewards to be had. Not for the faint hearted, but certainly this album is one of the best releases this year in doom or any other genre. The whole album is a grim steed, plodding inexorably towards its own fate. Fantastic.

 

“Sentiment” CD//DD//2LP track listing:

1). In Its Absence

2). Pools of Reflection

3). Sentiment

4). A Garden Where Nothing Grows

The Review

Well, there are four tracks here, nothing much under twelve minutes in length and there has been a sizeable buzz surrounding this record for many weeks prior to me sitting down to review. So what is going on with Un's “Sentiment” album- their sophomore release?!

For starters, melancholic clean work opens up and then gives way to a truly huge and crushing passage of music. Obviously, from the song lengths alone, it is reasonable to assume that this is an album that is in the arena of the doom genre- and it is, loosely. This is nothing really like Sabbath, Vitus, Trouble, Candlemass et al- it is not trad doom by any stretch. It does fit into the more modern interpretation of the genre label- think Conan, Yob and so on.

The vocals are of the growled variety (not on every track though, so keep an ear out!), the sound is absolutely enormous and the mix is excellent. This is very, very weighty stuff indeed and by the time opener “In Its Absence” has finished, the tone has been set. There is nothing uplifting here: only the darkest and murkiest riffs and sounds are to be found here. It's a downbeat listen, as song titles such as “Pools of Reflection” suggest. The title track is just as sprawling and epic in approach and utilises the same clean opening (yielding a promise of something sweeter than the bitterest of fruit which is actually then served up).

There are echoes of Paradise Lost at their gloomiest, echoes of Yob at their trippiest and there are hints of death metal, psychedelia and even shoe-gaze here and there. The closing statement of “A Garden Where Nothing Grows” is a dark and bleak vision and it really sums up the whole record very well. Any track here would sum up the release as a whole as it is a very strong whole and is nothing if not consistent.

Yep, “Sentiment” fits into the doom bracket, but there is a great deal going on here. For listeners prepared to take this grim journey, there are impressive rewards to be had. Not for the faint hearted, but certainly this album is one of the best releases this year in doom or any other genre. The whole album is a grim steed, plodding inexorably towards its own fate. Fantastic.

“Sentiment” is available HERE

Band info: bandcamp  || facebook

Un - “The Tomb of All Things” (Album Review) & Full Album Stream

By: Richard Maw

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 11/11/2016

Label: Tridroid Records

If you have any interest in doom, bleak atmospheric music of any type, funeral type riffs and paces with a lighter touch in some of the instrumental passages that brings to mind post metal and even black metal at times, then this record is most definitely for you.

“The Tomb of All Things” CD//DD//CS track listing:

1). Epigraph

2). Sol Marasmus

3). Forgotten Path

4). Through The Luminous Dusk

5). The Tomb Of All Things

The Review:

Tridroid Records have dusted off a gem of record from 2015 and are set to release it on cassette on Friday 11/11/2016. The album in question  Un's “The Tomb of All Things”. is a dark and powerful record mixing funeral doom riffs and paces with a lighter touch in some of the instrumental passages that brings to mind post metal and even black metal at times. The production is both airy and sharp with heft in abundance.

Songs are not songs at all (Not a track under ten minutes apart from the intro “Epigraph”). It is a crawlingly slow listen in the main, but has light and shade in there as well. Tracks such as “Through The Luminous Dark” have a wistful quality and some great melancholic soloing. Don't expect traditional structures- it is more about mood and atmosphere; ably created on the likes of “Forgotten Path” and “Sol Marasmus”.

By the time the title track shimmers forth (as shimmer it does) I was fully ensconced in the album and found the vibe created to be oddly relaxing as well as bleak. Naturally, the band is devastatingly heavy at times- but with more influences than just the doom genre being brought into play the record is unique.

If you have any interest in doom, bleak atmospheric music of any type and fancy hearing something not easily pigeonholed then this record is most definitely for you.

“The Tomb of All Things” is available here

Band info: Facebook | Bandcamp

Un Live rituals

11/09 Portland, OR at HIGH WATER MARK

11/10 Sacramento, CA at STARLITE LOUNGE
11/11 Oakland, CA at THE GOLDEN BULL
11/13 Long Beach, CA MIDNITE COMMUNION FEST (early show)
11/13 San Diego, CA with Un at TOWER BAR
11/14 Tempe, AZ at THE ROUGE
11/15 Santa Fe, at TBA

Additional dates (only Un):

11/17 Denver, CO at TBA
11/18 Colorado Springs, CO at THE FLUX CAPACITOR
11/19 TBA

Jagged Mouth will have you choking under the oppressive force of their blackened doom debut "Louring"

Blackened doom metal band Jagged Mouth will release their debut album “Louring” on limited edition cassette on October 28th 2016. The band is a project that was formed by Bon Fry (Lamentations of the Ashen) and Roman Barham (Black Maria, Torture Victim, Impaled Offering) to create slow and heavy music. This debut album will definitely create a stir in the underground with its crushing riffs and bone crunching heaviness.  Formed in late 2015 and hailing from Albuquerque, New Mexico, the two founding members would soon be joined by Alex Cantwell on vocals and would later take up the position of bassist. 

Roughly 12 weeks after forming, the band would enter the studio to begin work on their debut output. After a handful of sessions over the months to follow and the privilege of working with Matthew Tobias at Empty House Studio, the band completed “Louring” and approved the final mixes at the beginning of September, 2016.  With the re-release of “Louring” on cassette edging ever closer, the band is now preparing to embark on a fall tour covering the western territories of the US to promote their debut, while having the honor of sharing the stage with Sourvein, NORTH, and Sludgelord favourites Catapult The Dead along the way. 

Take it from me, this band crushes so hard they’ll make you choke under the oppression, so if you like Pallbearer, Un, Samothrace and Indian, be sure to check "Louring" below.  “Louring” is available digitally here

All current live rituals can be found below:

October 27th- Launchpad - Albuquerque

October 28th- The Flux - Colorado Spr

October 29th- 3 Kings Tavern- Denver

October 30th- TBA

October 31st- TBA

November 1st- The Kraken- Seattle

November 2nd- BloodShed- Portland

November 3rd- TBA

November 4th- TBA

November 5th- Golden Bull- Oakland

November 6th- The Blvd- LA

November 7th- The Complex- LA

November 8th-Sweet Springs Saloon CA

November 9th-Amigos Cantina-Ventura

November 10th-Timeout Lounge-Phoenix

November 11th-Sandbox-EL Paso

November 12th-The Underground- Santa Fe

“Louring” track listing:

1. A Wretched Offering

2. Fallen To Incarnadine Loam

3. There Is No Help Coming

4. Lingers the Taolith

5. If Hope Conspires Against Us

Band info: facebook || bandcamp