Slomatics – Canyons – Album Review
Belfast based heavy, heavy rockers reach new highs....
It’s a well known fact that a great big, reverb drenched riff is truly one of life’s simple pleasures and, fortunately for us, Belfast’s very own Slomatics have served up another batch of top-notch, weighty bastards, in the shape of their new album Canyons; an album which easily equals anything found in their already formidable back catalogue.
Opening with the simply colossal “Gears Of Despair”, the trio set out their stall from the start, with crushing, snail’s paced riffs and echo-drenched vocals proving the order of the day. You simply have to submit to the power of this music, which ebbs and flows like the tide, washing over and consuming all in its path, as psychedelia, space rock, doom and stoner metal / stoner rock collide.
Of course, Slomatics are long enough in the tooth (15 years and counting) to know that a little variety is needed every now and again, so they drop in the odd bit of synth and ambient noise, such as on the gargantuan “Telemachus My Son”, which adds a little light to the otherwise doomy proceedings.
For optimum effect, Canyons is an album best listened to as a whole and with it, Slomatics have yet again proven they are one of the finest bands ploughing the doom/stoner furrow in Ireland; be it North or South. With these carefully constructed, occasionally progressively-minded songs, Slomatics take a fuzzed-out riff and beat you repeatedly around the head with it….and rarely has a pummelling felt so good! 8/10
Release date: June 14th, 2019. Label: Black Bow Records.
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