Release
date: 20th
March 2018.
Label: Electric
Valley Records.
Format: CD/DD/Vinyl
Hybrid Slow Flood – Tracklisting
Hypnosis
I
Fall
Wood
Line
Yellow
Crocodile
Members
Antonio
Bonizzato – Bass\Vocals
Marco
Fila - Drums
Davide
Marotta - Guitar
Review
Italian Psych
Doom/Stoner Rockers - Atomic Mold - release their new album - Hybrid
Slow Flood - via Electric Valley Records and it's quite a psychedelic
heavy affair. The album contains four tracks. Two songs run under
four minutes and the other two songs run for thirteen and nineteen
minutes respectively.
Atomic Mold creates a
heavy psychedelic doom/stoner based sound that is slowly becoming
quite popular with bands such as Monolord and Throneless. That's not
to say Atomic Mold don't create their own sound. Far from it. They
do. As they play with a more distinctive heavier bass sound.
Opening track -
Hypnosis - is a heavy sounding Doom/Stoner Metal offering with vocals
drifting in and out. It's quite slow-paced at times but Atomic Mold
create and exciting and eerie atmosphere. Maybe sounding like a more
atmospheric Black Rainbows at times, this is very good song to open
the album with.
As the next two songs
(I Fall and Wood Line) sees Atomic Mold change the mood of the entire
album for the next thirty two minutes. The vocals disappear and a
heavier distorted psychedelic sludgy post-doom whatever atmosphere
appears. The sound is quite chaotic at times with both of these
tracks running for thirteen minutes and nineteen minutes each. Both
songs follow the same structure as each other with Atomic Mold even
adding moments of chaotic droned noises to unsettle the eerie
atmosphere.
Wood Line is perhaps
the best song on the album as its offers the most exciting and
creative moments on the album. As Atomic Mold experiment with their
sound and manage to bring in different sounding elements to the whole
feel of the album. Nothing is what it seems on Hybrid Slow Flood
especially from your first listen on the album.
You will need multiple
listens to this album to fully understand it all. The music is
superbly played with the distorted and droned out sounds keeping you
on edge.
The final song - Yellow
Crocodile - follows the same path as the epic two final tracks with
Atomic Mold playing a more jam-based sound. Even though the song
lasts under four minutes, Atomic Mold manage to create a wide range
of different sounds within the short running time. Mainly this song
being a standard Doom/Stoner Metal song with groove laiden
Psychedelic riffs ending the album in a low-key fashion.
The production is
handled superbly well. The vocals could have done with more volume.
Even though they appear for a small amount of time on the album,
there were parts that I couldn't really hear at all.
That minor complaint
aside, Atomic Mold has created an album that definitely lives upto to
its full potential. This album also proves why Atomic Mold is another
great band from the Italian Doom/Stoner Metal Scene to fall in love
with.
Excellent and Highly
Recommended.
Words
by Steve Howe
Thanks
to Electric
Valley Records for the promo. Hybrid Slow Flood will
be available to buy on DD/CD/Vinyl via ElectricValley Records
from March
20th
2018.
Links:
