Review Summary: DIY doom
5 of 5 thought this review was well writtenTo be Honest with you, I’m not an expert on death-doom or funeral doom - or any type of doom, but I can pin-point or not if it’s doom or not. That being said, I also can tell how great an album is after listening to a fair share of trve metal records over the years. So who is Samothrace? Well, Samothrace consists of members who are respected in their local Punk/Hardcore/Metal scenes, which range from New Mexico, Kansas, and Oklahoma, but are currently based in Seattle, WA. So when you mix different forms of punk and other variety of metal influences – you somehow or other get death/funeral/sludge/stoner doom mesh. With all of these influences combined, we get a standout album that can be regarded as a competitor within the doom community.
Basically,
Reverence to Stone is a crushing journey from the start to finish. Though it does have fluctuations throughout the album that can even be considered not “crushing”- especially the very beginning of the first song, and other bridges similar in the very middle of the album, or even the melodic pentatonic solos and melodies which drives for a specific type of atmosphere that combines depression with a psychedelic/stoner tone. But that doesn’t evade it from having low-tuned distorted guitars that carry on through the album being played as a whole note for eight measures in an adagissimo tone, but that’s just typical and dead given for doom. While the second, and last song, spans for twenty minutes we still see Samothrace crush your face with an immense power. But, “A Horse Of Our Own” compares highly differently to the album opener, “When We Emerged”. Yes, they do have the same characteristics; they’re just spread out differently and expanded in many different ways on their own. After listening to the album a few times, though it does sound like one big song, but there is an atmosphere that completely differs from one to another. It is an atmosphere that is too hard to explain with words, yet frequent death-doom listeners will understand the album’s atmospheric meaning.
All in all,
Reverence to Stone is a must have for death-doom fans, because this is an album that could reach top tier status. Even though it clocks in very close to 35 minutes,
Reverence to Stone still shows us their intentions on a high standard with concise musicianship.
