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Variety
is of the essence. Even for an instrumental band as
focused on tuning low as Brooklyn’s Batillus, doom is
about variety. There is only one master band of monotony
and they are named Moss. And for several reasons the
world does not need another Moss. Contrary to what many
may believe, doom is not about monotony and boring
uneventful arrangements. Far from it, doom is about
finding color where it all seems monochromatic. It is
about finding grooves where there is an apparently dead
tempo. Doom is about nuances in a black hole. Doom is
about distortion and about what you put on top of it.
Doom is about slowly transcending…
Batillus knows
this very well. And that is why the three tunes included in this
their introductory EP do not fall into what is traditionally
called doom metal. To start with, there is a big dose
psychedelia here, and sure Black Sabbath were trippy in their
very own way, but for the most part what was known as doom
throughout most of the 90’s stirred clear of mind altering
sounds. The marriage is perfect. There is something utterly
deranged about being outta your mind on drugs and there is also
something deranged about spending half an hour bobbling your
head to something as slow and rumbling as Batillus. It is both,
hedonistic and masochistic.
I am really
looking forward to hearing what this trio comes up with next.
The American doom panorama looks mighty bright. Did you hear
that Samothrace record? Fucking amazing. The second song “Make
Me an Iron Hand” initially reminded me of them a bit, but that’s
just because there are things in common, like the eternally
heaviness and the infinite sure ear hammering both bands
provide. “Kamala”, the third track, might be the slowest of
them all but is also the most fractured and least bold. Once it
turns into heaviness, there is little else but volume. However,
like with any of the previous two tracks it is worth the wait.
This EP can be downloaded for free
here!
MySpace |
