Neanderthal - Tracklist
1.Neanderthal 09:45
2.Mammoth March 09:04
3.TAWA 12:29
4.Paleo Dub 09:50
Members
Oleksandr Beregovyi - Everything
Review
One Man Doom/Sludge Metal wrecking crew Celophys are back with their massive sounding sixth album Neanderthal where they continue their heavy metal expedition into the far reaches of Doom, Sludge, Stoner, Psych and Drone Metal. The record is buried under layers of distorted fuzz with the music moving slightly further into the murky abyss of Black Metal along the way which comes mostly through the gut-wrenching vocals.
Celophys take the well established route of LOW & SLOW based grooves and match this against the AMPLIFIER FEEDBACK which can be unapologetically slow the best of times. If you’re a fan of CONAN, THOU, INDIAN and PRIMITIVE MAN then Celophys have every right to be mentioned in the same breath as those amazing bands. The music has that primal energy which allows the whole thing to be quite trippy, cerebral and spaced out with gloomy atmospherics adding a progressive Drone aspect to appear throughout every individual track.
The opening title track allows Celophys to lay down the groundwork and house rules for the album to follow with long drawn out distorted Sludge Metal rhythms that’s paired against a Droned Out vibe which pushes the Stoner Metal energy into a more destructive style. The vocals are quite abstract and sometimes make no sense but you can’t help being moved by the whole journey. The record is subversively progressive with the multiple levels of fractured and gloomy creative energy which sees Celophys bringing unholy entities into the world.
The record perhaps works best when the LOUD WALL OF AMPLIFIED NOISE doesn’t have much Psychedelic and Kinetic energy driving the music to its next dramatic conclusion especially within tracks such as Mammoth March and TAWA. As there’s a violent undercurrent of overworked amps, violent slabs of reverb and distorted feedback creating long-drawn out sounds that will pummel you into submission. The sound is quite grounded with Celophys never wavering from creating violent Sludge/Stoner Metal anthems you can easily lose yourself in.
Bands such as Sunn 0))) and EARTH can be heard as direct musical influences along the way but with Celophys being six albums into their extraordinary career, they’re making highly original sounds of their own making. The album does have some great riff-centric passages which allows Celophys to show a great style of melody where the instrumental passages are played out for a very long time but allows the listener to absorb in one full sitting.
Neanderthal is a superb record and showcases once again what the Doom/Sludge/Stoner Metal underground scene is truly capable of and one that the mainstream / commercial scenes can never fully deliver. A record that’s absolutely brimming with intense grooves which leaves you wanting more and fully satisfied at the same time.
This is a first rate album which you should add to your record collections right now.
Words by Steve Howe
Neanderthal is available to buy now on Digital Download/Cassette Tape via Robustfellow Prod.
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