Saturday 19 May 2018

Whooom - Bardo (Album Review)


Release date: April 13th 2018. Label: Self Released. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl

Bardo – Tracklisting

1.Sidpa 19:20
2.Chikhai 22:24

Members

Bart Van Garderen - Bass
Tom Van Garderen - Drums
Ross MacLean - Guitar

Review

Whooom’s new album Bardo only consists of 2 tracks but the whole album runs for over 40 minutes. Bardo is a mixture of Psychedelic, Doom, Stoner and Sludge Metal vibes . Though you don’t get that impression from the first few minutes of the opening track – Sidpa. As the song opens with a slowly played ambient/post-rock/drone based sound. It takes an age for the heavy riffs to appear. When they finally appear, ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE.

As Whooom style of music is crushingly heavy with dense psychedelic sounds allowing the band to play a LO-FI kind of sound. Bardo doesn’t have the best production but I think that’s the point. As Whooom have always been about creating music that’s as real as possible. The album still manages to sound beautifully heavy and clear at the same despite the rough production. The album has an addictive edge and that’s perhaps down to the fantastic bass guitar played by Bart.

Bardo is highly progressive throughout the entire album. As Whooom are very hard to define. Yeah, they play Doom, Stoner, Psych and Sludge based music. However they play a lot of different other sounds as well. Whooom are creating their own style of music that’s perhaps heavily influenced by Black Sabbath and Ufomammut.

If you’re looking for an album that gets you away from the SLEEP juggernaut that’s causing a major fuss within the Doom/Stoner Metal community then I recommend you listen to Whooom. As they’re currently one of the most inventive bands you’ll hear within the Doom/Stoner Metal scene.

Bardo is 40 minutes of top-notch Doomed Out and Psychedelic Weirdness you’ll find very hard to beat. My advice, find the biggest pair of speakers you possibly can and let BARDO bring sonic destruction and devastation to those around you….

Words by Steve Howe

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