Wednesday 23 August 2017

MENIN - Lord Of Pain (EP Review)


Release date: September 15th 2017. Label: Doom Stew Records. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl

Lord Of Pain – Tracklisting

1.Lord of Pain 05:44
2.Logrus 09:57
3.Mercer 07:13

Band Members

Chris Gray - Guitar, Vocals
Ken Neff - Bass
Devin Nowlin - Lead Drums
Pete Schaller - Rhythm Drums

Review

Lord Of Pain is the debut EP from Sludge/Stoner Metallers - Menin. It's a brutally sounding and adventurous release with the band showing their love and appreciation for High On Fire and Sleep. The vocals remain harsh but easily understandable with the music drifting from distorted sludge sounds to the more familiar sounding stoner metal riffs. When the vocals become more chant based, the EP turns into a harsher psychedelic sound.

Fans of Zoroaster will enjoy the opening track - Lord Of Pain - as the droned out noises interact violently with the sludge/stoner vibes being played around you. It may sound like a simple track to begin with but I can assure you that Menin have created many different levels of sludgy psychedelic grooves.

Second track - Logrus - is the entire centrepiece of the EP with the song running almost for ten minutes. Menin play an almost tribal drone style riff with pounding drums playing the same sounds for the first few minutes or so. Guitars are added with the drone/doom atmospherics slowly changing course. The repetitive drone/doom rhythms may put some people but I recommend you stick with this song as Menin bring in some much needed SLEEP style sonic riffery.

The lyrics have a deep sci-fi/doom and gloom element to them. The song is deliberately slow-paced and that allows Menin to experiment with their sound. Truth be told, this song feels about two or three different songs put together. As the song moves from different genres and moods on multiple occasions. This makes Logrus a challenging song to listen to but it still ranks as the standout track on the EP.

The final track - Mercer - opens with semi-acoustic doom based guitars creating slow and subtle rhythms before the heavier sludge/doom/stoner metal riffs appear and allow the song to fully spring into life. The song is purely instrumental with Menin experimenting with their bass heavy sound at different parts of the EP.

There are a few moments on the EP where I wished the band moved their music up a gear and play some faster riffs. Apart from that minor complaint, Lord Of Pain is a well-produced and frankly unrelentless slice of modern Doom/Sludge/Stoner Metal that will have you coming back for more. Hopefully a full length album is in the works. As this EP is crying out for another song for Menin to slay people with.

Excellent and Highly Recommended.

Words by Steve Howe
Thanks to MENIN for the promo. Lord Of Pain will be available to buy on CD/DD/Vinyl from September 15th 2017.
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