ARCHON - The Ruins at Dusk CD
Dark Matter Recordings
Genre: Doom
Rating: 4/5
ARCHON hail from Brooklyn, NY, a place that just recently had all of their filth covered in a foot of snow. Let me tell you something there's nothing pretty about snow up in an inner-city of the Northeast and it's worse when it starts to melt. I should know since I grew up in New Jersey right across the river from Manhattan. My childhood memories of New Jersey was that it was filthy, filthy like an asshole. If I were to use those memories of filth to influence me musically I'd be playing miserable music. That's why I find bands like ARCHON credible in their sound because when you live in a city you know sludge, filth and doom. Those heavy riffs represent the oppressiveness of what living in the city can be like. I have a hard time excepting Doom/Sludge bands from college towns. What is so miserable about living in a clean college town which would influence a Doom band? Let me guess the line was too long at the coffee shop so you had to attend morning classes without your double mocha latte. Give me a break.
ARCHON's sound is only one part misery and oppressive. They also add some psychedelic atmosphere to this four song release. Although I'm not thinking it's from hallucinogenics or weed but from lead paint and asbestos. Either way this is too scary sounding to be false hippie doom and ARCHON are not newbies jumping on the Stoner/Sludge bus to hipster town. The band was started by Andrew Jude who previously spent time wrecking eardrums in another New York City Sludge/Doom act, AGNOSIS. That band called it a day some years ago so now he has this new project. I use the term project because by looking at the recording line-up Jude employed different musicians and vocalists on each cut. Musically there's not much change between tracks but vocally there is and to great effect. The use of gruff male vocals and added screams paired with the haunting female vocal chants sound incredible. Like I mentioned earlier there's four cuts coming in at over fifty-five minutes. ARCHON's music is like an oppressive boot on your face while someone with a guitar in the background noodles away on a wah wah peddle.
Label: darkmatterrecordings@gmail.com
Myspace: http://myspace.com/archondoom
Band: http://archondoom.com/
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