To start off, I’m not what you would call an uber doomster. I do believe the species exist. I’ve came across them on the internet salivating over the heaviest, slowest, ploddiest DOOM metal possible which for the most part I could never quite understand. Hell if you smoked enough weed, anything and everything sounds amazing, right? That said, I do enjoy my fair share of doom metal in the right variations of course. Landskap bridge the gap of being super-mega-uber-doom, but with enough living, breathing ambition to maintain the attention of a non-die-hard uber-doomster, such as myself.
When grabbing the promo for this the other day something seemed familiar about the band and it wasn’t until just a few seconds ago that I went to their facebook page and saw a bunch of my “friends” already “liked” the band, which in turn took some of the thunder away from what I was thinking was a brand new top secret share I’d have for everybody. You know that feeling right? No not you, you over there! I’ve been listening to this frequently in the past week and figured it had what it took for me to do a little write up. Then I decided I’d see if they had a bandcamp page after the fact, and low and behold, of course they do and it’s been in my “wishlist” for ages and with different artwork than what was shown on the promo. It was released digitally back in January on bandcamp and it is now offered up in physical format through Iron Bonehead Productions, of which the promo album was sent. It’s offered for name your price on bandcamp, so I’m guilty of letting this one slip away for too long myself.
Landskap is comprised of members from the bands such as SerpentCult / Thee Plague Of Gentlemen, Fen, Pantheist, Dead Existence, Father Sun, and Skaldic Curs, of which I have no clue about except for Fen, whom could be either the black metal band Fen or the progressive metal band Fen. I think there is at least 2 Fens, but I could be tripping. Landskap constructs a weighty little 4-song debut LP running over 30 minutes in length in the spirit of true doom, yet with a mood set for a psychedelic trip into the unknown.
A Nameless Fool shovels its way towards the depths of its own demise with an eerie satanic intro with church bells ringing behind a slow burning riff. Moaning vocals spew fitting lyrics amongst the evil riffage coated with progressively tripped out guitar solos. “So carry on you nameless fool, The hole you dig it waits for you…..”
My Cabin in the Woods cools down the blistering heat generated with the opening 11+ minute doom oeuvre with a hazy 2 minute instrumental lullaby followed immediately by yet another magnum opus of a doom treat Fallen So Far. It’s an accessibly doomy and irresistibly soothing form of otherwise filthy and downright depressing doom metal. The guitars ascend throughout the precarious lyrical storyline, like Beauty awaiting the Beast while shackled to the bedpost. “Shadows play across the sky, gnashing teeth that feed you lies, Never trust another soul, we don't know what we think we know…..”
Closing out the album, To Harvest the Storm succeeds in captivating the senses with a mesmerizing relay of hallucinogenic solos commencing much like a magic mushroom trip. Starting off mellow and relaxing and twitching towards a climax of ecstatic delusion.
The album is paired perfectly as Side A mirrors Side B with one short, one long, one lyrical, one instrumental song on each side. The album is borderline conceptual as it totally plays out in sequence and flows perfectly from start to finish. I would recommend this to uber-doomsters, but even more so to standard stoner rock fans looking for a good trip, or to fans of music like myself who don’t “smoke drugs” anymore and aren’t necessarily on team Heavierdoomthanthou. Extremely cohesive effort that maintains a powerful hook and brands a stamp of approval within this music addicts diminishing memory. At least now I planted the album on my bandcamp collection page and will be able to play it on the go whenever I want beneath the cyber sun. You are now obligated to listen. Do it.
-The Huntsman
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