Friday, 14 August 2015

Pyraweed - S/T (Album Review)


Release date: 28th July 2015. Label: Self Released. Formats: CD/DD

Pyraweed S/T - Tracklisting

1.Inside Green Chaos 10:33
2.Black Blinding Sun 09:12
3.D(sl)eep 10:10
4.Salvation 10:41

Band Members:

All Instruments / Vocals - Nijat Hasanzadeh
Solo Guitar - Reshid Memmedli

Review:

Azerbaijan. Wait… these guys are from Azerbaijan. Really. No way. Awesome. Not really a country you would expect to find a Doom/Sludge/Stoner Metal. Low and behold, that’s where Pyraweed is from. Pyraweed plays a heavy style of Sludgy Doom and Psychedelic Stoner Metal. Think OM meets Ufomammut with harsher vocals. Their S/T debut album is layered with FUZZ and plenty of reverb feedback for one trippy experience. Pyraweed even finds the time to add traces of Eastern sounds and noises to give this album a truly mystical out-of-body experience.

Opening track – Inside Green Chaos – creates a down-tempo atmosphere with Pyraweed playing a more evil style of fuzz based Sludge/Doom/Stoner Metal. It’s played at a fast pace which allows the instrumental work to flow naturally. The vocals have a raw violent feel to them but with emotion and pure conviction though some people maybe put off with the death based grunts that lead vocalist – delivers with confidence. It’s the riffs that are the “real” star here as Pyraweed creates epic drone based riffs that captures a crazier psych vibe you’ve never heard before.

Second track – Black Blinding Sun – follows the same path as the previous track though with slightly darker lyrical content. The riffs are heavier with Pyraweed revelling in their darker persona. It’s a bass heavy affair with Pyraweed allowing their sound to be centred on the bass guitar. The drumming and lead guitar work is ferocious through out as the band impress you with a few epic Stoner/Psych Rock jams spliced with Eastern Mysticism. It shouldn’t work but it really does. It shows you that Pyraweed are not your average run of the mill Doom/Stoner Metal band but something special indeed. Fans of OM will freak out on this track even if the vocals may take some time getting used to.

One thing I forgot to mention is that each of the 4 tracks runs past the 10 minute mark. So expect epic moments of psychedelic trippy madness.

Third Track – D(sl)eep Madness – opens with a solitary guitar riff with noises and glitches playing in the background. It adds a cosmic/space rock edge to Pyraweed’s music. Though you don’t have to wait long until the familiar and heavy vocals of front-man – Nijat – who excels here. The instrumental work is impressive as heck as the band unleash another round of Psychedelic Sludge based grooves. Pyraweed change styles yet again towards the end as they start playing a Thrashier style of Psych Metal with more of that trippy Eastern Mysticism.

The last song – Salvation – is possibly the heaviest song on the album and possibly the most straight-forward Sludge/Stoner Metal track on the album. Pyraweed, once again create a bleak doomy atmosphere which instantly draws you in. The fuzzy interludes become quite sparse as Pyraweed go for an all out Sludge/Stoner Metal attack played at different speeds and rhythms that would make even Ufomammat jealous with envy. This is a trippy and haunting track that leaves you wondering “What the heck just happened”. My advice, press play and enjoy the journey over and over again as Pyraweed have created a brilliant and fascinating album.

Words by Steve Howe

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