Fiend – Seeress (Doompth Metal)
Yo I just came up with a new term: “doompth metal.” At first read that sounds horrible, like a new taunt. You doompthus! That, another new word, is definitely a taunt, but doompth is not, sometimes. Okay let me be honest here it kind of is. Truth be told it’s all I could come up for doom metal with more depth that actually lacks depth, so I not-so-cleverly made a portmanteau that means something other than how it sounds, but only sometimes. It’s all part of the confusion of listening to Seeress, which finds a way to push boundaries while still staying exactly the same and not really doing much of anything. I hope this isn’t too much of a doompth to the stomach. The artist of the cover, Adele Mildred, doesn’t have to worry though, that armed girl is cool.
French outfit Fiend is a bit of doom and related genres with the resulting mix lacking a clear definition. So there’s doompth, see? Seeress is written like your typical dime rock/metal/progressive/sludge/doom/psychedelic novel, but as you occasionally find with such regurgitated scrapple, it’s the details that sometimes awaken you from slumber. Fiend aren’t presenting anything legendary here. Seeress‘ primary strength is in the little things, occasionally. The riffs you’ve heard, the esotericism you’ve read, the -ess factor you’ve seen, the drum tom juggling puts you to sleep, but yet… Fiend manage to find their own personality now and then. At times it comes off as “wait a minute,” like that stellar riff roll in “Vessels,” but others, the atmospheric picking over part of the same track, lacks the “holy shit” of better bands and leads to general indifference when it all sinks in.
Written by Stanley, Devourer of Souls
Fiend – Seeress
Deadlight Records
3.7 / 5
