Release Date: November 17th 2023. Record Label: Self Released. Formats: DD
In Roundness - Tracklisting
Not Away
Hang So Low
The Rain Is My Love
Circle In Roundness
Climb By The Sundown
The Misery
Members
Kamil Ziółkowski - Everything
Review
Mountain Of Misery is the new project from Kamil Ziółkowski from the mighty Spaceslug who is also part of O.D.R.A and Palm Desert. This project is a Psychedelic Doom/Stoner Metal band with certain Cosmic sounds that are perhaps inspired by Spaceslug. The debut album In Roundness is mostly aligned to bands such as KYUSS, Fu Manchu and Soundgarden with it's classic Grunge attitude which transpires within the early stages of the record. I have to thank Mel Lie of SUNDAY's Heavy Tunes for bringing this great album to my full attention otherwise I may have missed this
In Roundness is full of heavy FUZZ based grooves that have an aggressive Californian Desert/Stoner Metal sound with flashes of Heavy Psych Rock and epic progressive jams. The mood cqn be quite distorted but Kamil's recognisable vocals allows the album to be familiar to fans of Spaceslug but with a classic KYUSS influence allows Mountain Of Misery to also be quite a different creative outlet compared to Kamil's other projects. Moments of heavy seedy Psych/Space Rock drifts further to the Doom Rock/Metal abyss which you can feel on the two opening tracks of Not Away and Hang So Low.
Both songs contain a fast-paced and adventurous style of Psychedelic Doom/Stoner Metal with a distorted FUZZ Rock sound that echoes the movements of Truckfighters in places. The lyrics are sometimes a little OUT THERE at times but all delivered with serious intent with Kamil's aggressive based vocals that has a slightly different style to his work with Spaceslug at times.
The instrumental grooves are always highly engaging with the music being highly melodic even when the song becomes more Progressive in places. In Roundness can be very subdued at times especially with the most Post-Stoner themes of the album which come on strongly within tracks such as The Rain Is My Love, Circle In Roundness and The Misery. However, Kamil knows what he's doing by delivering a record that's not afraid to explore the finer emotionally charged details of the Doom/Stoner Metal environments. In Roundness even offers brief moments of Doomgaze moments before the Grungy attitude of the album moves into other areas of the Psych/Cosmic Rock arena and when those moments appear Kamil's vocals become ever more real.
In Roundness lasts for around thirty six minutes though it feels longer and I mean that as a compliment. The album features sublime production values which easily matches the quality that Spaceslug have delivered recently with their last few releases. If you want an album that blends the legendary mysticism of the Californian Desert/Stoner Rock scene with that heavy and gritty FUZZ based Psychedelic Doom groove then you're in the right place. As Mountain Of Misery have delivered a brilliantly entertaining and technically impressive release that left me wanting to hear more.
The albums vying for "Album Of The Year" status are coming thick and fast and I am more than happy to add Mountain Of Misery to my own personal list for 2023. In Roundness is a must have album and I'm hoping we see a lot more from Mountain Of Misery in the near future.
Words by Steve Howe
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