Tuesday 12 April 2016

Haast's Eagled - II: For Mankind (Album Review)


Release date: May 27th 2016. Label: Holy Roar Records. Released. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl

II: For Mankind – Tracklisting

1.Pyaaz Bhonghi
2.The Uncle
3.Zoltar
4.White Dwarf

Band Members:

Jo
Lee
Adam

Review:

This band’s last offering was in 2013. The debut was sludge served at the perfect doom temperature. I have awaited another release with eager anticipation. The wait is over. Haast's Eagled II:For Mankind is upon us.

Haast's Eagled tips the ladle, basting your simmering brain with black butter and as you enjoy the concoction waves warming the folded crevices of your mind, the cannibal next door is salivating at the aroma of the imagined recipe. This album stirs your emotions through sound.
The 4 tracks are as follows:

Pyaaz Bhonghi - The opening song begins with droning distorted doom and tribal drums that rumble in like a thunderstorm. The elongated adenoidal vocals trade off with a chronic "Lurch" belch. Midway through is a slow daydream like portion which is haunting in effect. We are then given a powerful, soaring vocal passage which allows you to contemplate why the leaves turn red before they are completely dead. A piano version of the theme creates an emotional and stirring end to the song.

The Uncle - This tune begins as a fade in distortion, which is soon coated with the same shrill beak like vocals and the return of “Lurch” and his chronic indigestion. This offering is winged doom escaping through the creaking of the coffin lid. I don’t know the meaning of this song, but all my Uncles were creepy folk with leering eyes and foul breath, which this song resonates triumphant.

Zoltar - This track is a 20 minute opus. It has plucking strings and echoed strums of guitar conjoined with murky piano. It reminded me of the slow deconstruction of a grainy Zeppelin or Floyd recording. The vocals consist of melancholic chants of a defrocked monk and passionate singing passages of a lamenting paladin. The song picks up the pace to a galloping grunge over the half way mark with the victorious vocals of a vindicated philosopher and slows down again with mountainous drums, open chords and guttural sounds, not unlike an old sluggish 78 vinyl. Piano returns to accompany the dual soprano/baritone vocals, and a horned instrument makes the passage more heart rendering in its overall composition. The ending is pure life on Mars presenting the band firing all guns with old Sgt. “Lurch” pulling a last minute vocal duty again.

White Dwarf - This song hums as if recorded within a humid dungeon, resulting in fluid vocals and resonant instruments. The song eventually grabs you with an old style bob along song structure and vocal part causing you to nod in unison.

The album cover is rendered in shades of red and depicts a man lobotomized by a tusk larger than a sabre tooth. This must be the end result of aboriginal man, the basic urge we deny exists today.

The bipolar song architecture is perfect for the rage and ache within every self aware man. I would listen to this while I contemplate the words for the inscription on my tombstone.

This is a great album and a passionate experience for those willing to invest the sentiment and give it a spin.

Words by Na Palmisano

Thanks to Holy Roar Records for the promo. II: For Mankind – will be available to buy via Holy Roar Records and Haast's Eagled BandCamp Page from May 27th 2016 on CD/DD/Vinyl.

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