THE GARDNERZ - The System of Nature CD
Abyss Records
Genre: Doom
Rating: 3/5
Well isn't this sweet as in drinking poison. They're a Swedish four piece and this is Doom. When this release opens with "The Art of Suffering" and it's low toned solitude as it's structure unfolded I was expecting something along the lines of MY DYING BRIDE. Then the monster vocals and stabbing guitar soloing commenced which let me know that we're dealing with something not so ordinary of a Doom act. I should have expected it since with a band name like THE GARDNERZ, hey what's that all about. Back in 2010 this band self released this but now it's been re-released on Abyss Records with two covers tacked on it's rear. I'll ruin it for ya since one choice is fairly unique, "Bloody Vengence" by VULCANO and one is not so unique "Servants of the Warsmen" by WINTER. Aside from that what this band brings to the table is their ability to altar time signatures without ruining the ebb and flow of their songs. Their second cut on here "Lady in the Grave" makes that clear early on and it continues throughout The System of Nature. You could call it Doom for the ADD afflicted (but don't call it Technical Progressive Doom or I will find and kill you) especially with a vocalist like Niklas Ankarbranth who also likes to switch things up from a patented death growl to blackened venomous rasps and sinister laughs. Guitarist Wilhelm Lindh's playing style is much in the same vein. He throws heavy standard doom riffs, tremolo picked rhythms, acoustic styled plucking, fiery leads, sometimes all in one song like he does on "Your Final Solution" and "Born to Consume".
Unfortunately all of that off your meds destructuring does lead to some monotony. While Lindh and Ankarbranth are doing their best at making you react like a cat chasing a laser pointer the rhythm section of bassist Francisco Martin and drummer Juan Pablo Donoso are simply keeping time. It's as if these guys really are on different time schedules since Lindh and Ankarbranth are from Sweden where as Martin and Donoso are from Chile. Whatfuck is right plus those Chilein guys must of froze their ass's off if this was recorded in Sweden during the winter. No wonder they're slow sounding. At least Martin gets some bass soloing in on "More or Less" and Donoso finally gets to toss in some fills on the latter half of the album's cuts. By "Flaw in the Axiom", the seventh song, things get to the boredom point. It's as if the band simply ran out of ideas and become a conveyor belt of first part rehash. Yeah sure it's Doom, it's repetitive but I'm talking about song structure as well as technique and songwriting. The first half is interesting but the second half is a blatent repeat. If it wasn't for the covers I'd say stop at the release's half way mark.
Label: http://www.officialabyssrecords.com/
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/thegardnerz
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