Cannibals Of Unaka - Tracklisting
1.Downside Of The Dark Side Of The Sunshine 08:59
2.A Death Song 08:15
3.Unkaas Bleeding On Stone 04:40
4.Hearts Rumble In The Dark 08:09
5.Slow Slide Sleep 13:22
Review
Psychedelic Doom Metallers U.S. Christmas makes a welcome return with their sixth album Cannibals Of Unaka which is their first album in over fourteen years. The record continues the same hypnotic and creative methodology heard within their last album The Valley Path with dark tales of the Appalachian surroundings. U.S. Christmas have embraced elements of Post-Rock and Shoegaze into their music for this album which gives this a haunting and reflective quality hidden behind the down-tuned and distorted melodies.
Nate Hall’s vocals are beautifully engaging, aggressive and emotionally charged as ever. There’s a shamanic quality to Nate’s vocal delivery which has been there throughout the band’s whole existence. The instrumental passages are very bleak and quite oppressive in some ways with the sudden appearance of Ambient sounds and Psychedelic movements which make sudden appearances on the opening two tracks of Downside Of The Dark Side Of The Sunshine and A Death Song.
These two tracks run past the eight minute mark with U.S. Christmas showcasing a style of Post-Doom heaviness that has a trippy AMERICANA and FOLK based attitude even when offset against the Atmospheric Sludge Metal attitude the band adapts for some of the most thrilling moments on the whole album. With a heavy reliance on Space Rock grooves, the album is always constantly evolving into a different style of music that leaves a lasting impression. There’s some deceptive areas of AMPLIFIER FEEDBACK and HEAVY REVERB that combine for a crushing SONIC landscape that dominates the rest of the album for U.S. Christmas to experiment with.
Third song Unkaas Bleeding On Stone is the shortest track on the album running under five minutes in length and is quite a cautionary style of Americana music with an earthly Country Rock effect appearing. The drone aspect gives the track a soothing hallucinogenic effect. The whole method is quite solitary but with U.S. Christmas creating a highly original slice of Post-Rock which includes areas of Psych, Shoegaze and Ambient Music.
Fourth track Hearts Rumble In The Dark takes the previous track’s solitary sound and expands this onto a bigger Distorted and Drone Rock canvas. There are levels of Noise Rock and Glitched Out Effects allowing the extended instrumental passages dangling between Post-Rock bliss and aggressive Post-Metal themes. The song is deliberately slow-paced that allows the listener to soak up every twisted and highly uplifting moment. U.S. Christmas has added a thought-provoking soundbyte for the storytelling narrative about mankind’s ever increasing dependence on technology and the effects this has on humanity.
The final track Slow Slide Sleep is the standout track lasting over thirteen minutes with U.S. Christmas playing some of the heaviest sounds of their legendary career. The whole track feels like it’s re-inventing the whole creative fabric of modern day Psychedelic Doom Metal with the band exploring other areas of music such as Space Rock, Drone, Psych, Prog, Sludge and even Stoner Metal passages. This song does feel quite abrasive and wholly out of control for the most part but it’s delivered with real purpose as U.S. Christmas offer some of the most intense and riff-centric parts of the whole album.
Cannibals Of Unaka is a highly thought provoking record with U.S. Christmas delivering one of the most intense and highly original Doom Metal records of the year.
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