Release Date: August 23rd 2024. Record Label: Ripple Music. Formats: CD/DD/Vinyl
Echo Manor: Tracklisting
1. Wraith
2. Empty One
3. All We Know
4. Echo Manor
5. Rituals Unknown
6. King To A Dead Tree
7. Carry Me
8. Watchers
9. Lighthouse
10. In The Garden Of Lies
Members
Travis Weatherred - Vocals, Guitars, Keyboards
Stephen Griffin - Guitars, Bass, Keyboards
Jason Motamedi - Drums
Review
Doom/Stoner Metallers Fostermother return with their new album Echo Manor which once again sees the band go under a slight creative transformation like they carried out on their celebrated 2022 album The Ocean. As this time round Fostermother focuses upon areas of Post-Rock, Prog Rock and Space Rock for a record that sees the band become masterful storytellers in their own right.
The music is quite melodic whilst being spectacularly heavy with the Sludge Rock surroundings bringing areas of trippy keyboards and fuzzed up Stoner Rock/Metal atmospherics. The vocals from Travis Weatherred once again have a bittersweet edge to them which comes into play quite early on with the opening track of Wraith.
Wraith is not quite “DOOM & GLOOM” but there are echoes of that style of music with Fostermother slowly moving into the competitive world of Psych Stoner Rock and aligning themselves more closely to bands such as King Buffalo and standing their own creative ground. The instrumental sounds setup the scene of what’s to come on Echo Manor with a gloomy sense of Psychedelic and Progressive sounding melodies with a haunting quality appearing only when it’s needed.
Second track Echo One is more of a heavier Post-Doom/Post-Rock number with a flattering 1970’s Melodic Rock attitude spliced with Sludge/Stoner Rock aggression whilst still having a bittersweet quality but it’s none of those things either. As the band constantly changes musical themes with sublime 1980’s Classic Hard Rock guitar shredding appearing before returning to their main Psychedelic/Post-Whatever sound.
Third track All We Know is one of the standout tracks on the record with a haunting Occult Rock inspired tone which is quite eerie familiar to their previous albums. The music has a muscular and aggressive style with it’s dominant Doom Metal sound before adding levels of Psych Stoner Metal with catchy vocals to match. This is the type of song that has a timeless quality to it with first rate lyrics helping Fostermother to become masters of their own craft.
Fourth track Echo Manor sees a more dramatic SHOEGAZE or DOOMGAZE sound appearing with Fostermother still embracing their slightly demented OCCULT DOOM identity with the song drawing influences from bands such as Blue Oyster Cult and Uncle Acid. The song is perhaps one of the darkest tracks on the whole album perhaps from a lyrical perspective and it does have a certain “HORROR MOVIE” swagger to the whole thing whilst still being a top-notch STONER based track.
Fifth track Rituals Unknown sees Fostermother to tighten their hypnotic grip on the whole Occult Doom/Stoner Metal sound with Post-Rock and Psychedelic energy appearing within the less aggressive parts of the track. The track is quite slow-paced for the most part with the band focusing upon Prog Rock delivery with spectacular results and the perfectly pitched vocals just adding to the highly atmospheric vibe of the whole album.
The second half of the album continues with the OCCULT and PSYCHEDELIC passages with Fostermother adding layers of intense sounding keyboards, sludgy guitars and a first rate rhythm section exploring the more Progressive moments of the whole album especially on tracks such as King To A Dead Tree, Watchers, Lighthouse and In The Garden Of Lies.
This album feels like Fostermother have finally found their true calling of the type of music they were meant to play. As it’s their most engaging and brilliantly entertaining album they’ve released to date. With impressive production values yet again (Part of the course with this being a Ripple Music release), Fostermother have crafted a dazzling and sonic musical adventure which strikes the perfect balance of Psych, Post-Rock, Shoegaze and Occult sounds told through the power of modern day Doom/Stoner Metal.
Echo Manor is Album Of The Year material. Brilliant. End Of.
Words by Steve Howe
Thanks to Purple Sage for the promo.
Echo Manor will be available to buy on CD/DD/Vinyl via Ripple Music from Friday 23rd August 2024.
Links
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