Hound The Wolves debut album Camera Obscura is a deeply fascinating and emotional album that draws on the heavier sounds of Drone, Doom, Psych and Stoner Rock.
Opening track - Lost In Mind - is a slowly played song with elements of Drone and Post Rock creating an almost ambient based atmosphere. The music and mood of the song is quite solitary with the haunting vocals opting for a more poetic style of delivery. The deliberate slow paced delivery of the music allows the listener to fully immerse themselves with the almost cold and distant environment.
Second song - Masquerade - opens the world of Hound The Wolves to a heavier style of Psychedelic Doom/Stoner Rock with the sound becoming more of a post-metallic vibe. The drone based sounds become almost industrial with the dual vocals having a more machine like delivery. I can hear a direct NIN influence with the heavy distorted industrial beats though the band adds a heavier pounding Sludge/Stoner metal sound. The song becomes decidedly weird and trippy when Americana inspired Psychedelic Drone noises appear and the song becomes calmer and perhaps more mood driven as a result. The band has a lot of time to fill as this song lasts thirteen minutes or so. The lyrics have a shamanic feel to them and perhaps inspired by Drone/Doom Specialists EARTH.
Third track - Omnia In Numeris Sina Sunt - is another Psychedelic Drone offering with long drawn out sounds and hypnotic vocals singing the title of the song over and over. In theory this should be a recipe for disaster but Hound The Wolves make this a majestic and hypnotic offering with many layers of different areas of music holding everything together.
The final song - Everything Lies Veiled In Numbers - carries on the Psychedelic/Americana sounds but with more emphasis on the hazy dark desert sounds with an eerie slide guitar being played in the background. The song has a constant slowly played guitar that never lets up. The vocals drift in and out yet again with the shamanic style chants. The lyrics are quite doomy and progressive in parts but it's the music that makes the lasting impression.
Camera Obscura is one of the most trippiest Psychedelic Drone/Stoner Metal albums I've heard in a long time. The production is simply exquisite. You can feel the different layers of music taking over your soul for an out of body experience.
If you're a fan of EARTH or Across Tundras then Hound The Wolves is a band you cannot ignore. My final thoughts on Camera Obscura are that this album maybe very hard to describe and it may take multiple listens to understand fully what's going on. however that doesn't stop this album being a powerful and simply unmissable album.
Words by Steve Howe
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