Wednesday 18 April 2018

Indica Blues - Hymns For A Dying Realm (Album Review)


Release date: April 21st 2018. Label: Self Released. Format: CD/DD

Hymns For A Dying Realm – Tracklisting

1.Cosmic Flare 05:05
2.Knight's Return
3.Reigns End
4.Scum River
5.Pearls in the Ash
6.Island of Hate
7.Psychedelic Haze

Members

Andrew Haines-Villalta - Bass
Tom Pilsworth - Guitar, Vocals
John Slaymaker - Guitar
Rich Walker - Drums

Review

Indica Blues new album - Hymns For A Dying Realm - is an album that took me a long time to fully appreciate. There were parts that I enjoyed immensely and some that left me feeling rather cold. Not that I thought it was a bad record. Far from it. It's quite a groovy and heavy doom based album. Maybe I was listening to the album at the wrong time. However as I now rate this album very highly indeed.

Opening track - Cosmic Flare - is a groove laiden song with the band playing a vintage Psychedelic Doom/Stoner Metal sound with elements of Classic Rock being added just for the fun of it.

Second track - Knights Return - offers a more complex and heavier sound with the band adding a gloomy feel especially with the lyrics and vocals. The whole atmosphere and tone of the album feels inspired by the classic Doom/Heavy Metal bands of the last forty years or so. Lead vocalist - Tom - sounds like a doomier version of Robert Smith from The Cure. Even some parts of the album have a certain Post-Punk feel. The guitars are what keep the whole album within the Doom/Stoner Metal world. There is definitely an air of intelligence around Indica Blues music and the album is quite serious for a Doom/Stoner Metal album. That's a good thing as Indica Blues have their own unique way of creating slightly depressing heavy Doom/Stoner based sounds.

Third song - Reigns End - has quite a poetic and historic feel to it. This allows the album to have a more personal sound and even becomes way too real at times.

The next few songs - Sum River, Pearls In The Ash and Island Of Hate - sees Indica Blues play a familiar style of Psychedelic driven Doom/Stoner Metal sound. The songs easily match the quality of the opening three songs with Island Of Hate being one of the best songs on the album.

Indica Blues write some hard-hitting lyrics on the album and the band deserve credit for writing highly imaginative complex and progressive sounding riffs. The final song - Psychedelic Haze - is aptly named with Indica Blues leaving you in a heavy whirlwind of Psychedelic and Hazy sounds. The song runs past the nine minute mark and Indica Blues prove their worth giving a damn about with the eerie Doom/Stoner Metal sounds leaving you wanting more.

Hymns For A Dying Realm may take a few listens to fully enjoy and appreciate. However this is a journey worth taking as you'll be rewarded with an off-beat and brilliantly heavy doom/stoner metal odyssey.

Words by Steve Howe

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