Sunday 26 April 2020

Pale Mare - Pale Mare II (EP Review)


Release date: April 03rd 2020. Label: Seeing Red Records / Ancient Temple Recordings. Format: Cassette/CD/DD/Vinyl

Pale Mare II – Tracklisting

1.House Of War 07:47
2.Zealot 06:24
3.Voidgazer 04:18
4.Remains 09:02

Review

Pale Mare – latest EP offers a ferocious blend of Sludge, Doom and Stoner Metal and is influenced by early-era High On Fire, Mastodon and Baroness with a twinge of Motorhead style aggression. The EP only lasts for 28 minutes but Pale Mare leave a mighty impression with the band adding a Punk Rock attitude to the mix and even add some sonic blasts of Psychedelic Metal along the way.

The guitars do have a certain Matt Pike/Lemmy feel to them but Pale Mare create music on their own terms and it’s quite brutally bleak in places with the lyrics adding a gloomier feel. The dual vocals from Eytan and Kevin both offer a different perspective on things on different parts of the album. The music is the real standout here with Pale Mare allowing their music to grow at a natural pace with the “thrashier” elements of their music bringing a more violent approach to their music.

The 4 songs on offer here represent top-notch Doom/Sludge/Stoner Metal riffs that will leave your whole body in a fucking spin. The aggressive grooves heard on opening song House Of War feels like the bastard offspring of High On Fire and Mastodon vying for musical supremacy and still offering some equally catchy lyrics at the same time.

The standout songs on here are Voidgazer and Remains. As the band feel more confident and in their creative element on these two songs with Pale Mare offering a blistering style of Psychedelic Doom/Stoner Metal for these two songs.

Remains offers the heaviest moments of the EP and the band have a lot of time to play with here. As the song lasts for 9 minutes and Pale Mare offer a wide range of different Sludge/Doom/Stoner Metal sounds with a cool sounding Psychedelic vibe allowing the band to play some epic guitar solos along the way.

Pale Mare II is a resounding success on all levels and shows you why we need a full length album from these guys for their next release. As I want to see what these guys can deliver on a full length record. Until then, II is a welcome addition to the current top-tier of Doom/Sludge/Stoner Metal releases.

Excellent and Highly Recommended.

Words by Steve Howe

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