The Well - Death And Consolation (Album Review)

Release date: April 26th 2019. Label: RidingEasy Records. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl

Death And Consolation – Tracklisting

1.Sabbah 03:49

2.Raven 03:52

3.Death Song 04:48

4.Cup of Peace 04:30

5.Eyes of A God 03:41

6.Act II 06:32

7.Freedom Above 04:03

8.This is How The World Ends 04:53

9.Endless Night 06:16

Members

Ian Graham

Lisa Alley

Jason Sullivan

Review

The first time I heard The Well was a few years back. Their label, the consistently amazing, RidingEasy records included a test pressing of the band’s debut album, Samsara, with my order. Goddamn if I wasn’t blown away. The psych heavy, Austin based doom trio play a brand of straight forward, garage inspired, occult driven doom that is hard rocking and catchy as hell. Death and Consolation is the band’s third full length and is a bit more stripped down there prior two albums, but the more lean and mean sound lends itself very, very well to the trio. There are a ton of different sounds and influences that can be heard throughout Death and Consolations 9 smoking tracks.

The album opens with the fuzzy and blissed out Sabbah that showcases the overall sound of the band, driving drums and riffage with intertwined male/female vocals delivering dark lyrics with a monstrous earworm hook. The tempo picks up a bit with the driving Raven. Which rocks hard before closing out with a one-note piano blast. The band draws from their European doom brethren on Death Song. The track is riff heavy and oozes Doom. I kept thinking of Kadavar on this one. I think it is the vivid lyrical imagery and the masterful vocal delivery that make this one of the albums best songs. 

Cup of Peace keeps the heavy doom onslaught going. The songs blisters with tons of distortion and more end of days feel lyrics. My absolute favorite track on Death and Consolation is Eyes of a God. It is the most inspired song. The ultra catchy, monstrous Sabbath inspired riff drives the song into a sweet chorus. The band doesn’t let up on the doom when Act II comes crashing in. The riff is heavy and unrelenting on the listener. The band does slow things down a bit with Freedom Above. The bass driven intro leads this more meditative rock track that begs “Please don’t take my high away”. Monkey sounds open and close the catchy, epic rock inspired, This is How. The song is propelled by a monster riff and catchy as hell chorus. Another monstrous riff closes the record on Endless Night. The band grooves mightily and brings in some dark, melodious bells to bring this masterful record to a close.

The Well are truly one of, if not, the best American doom bands around. Death and Consolation only adds to their impressive catalogue. If you are familiar, then you will want this record in your collection. If you are new to this mighty trio, this record is a tremendous starting point. I can certainly see this record on many a best of the year list for 2019. I am damn sure it will be near the top of mine. Dig on this one!

- Todd S - Instagram @alltheghoststhathauntyou

Words by Todd Stealey

Death And Consolation is available to buy now on CD/DD/Vinyl via RidingEasy Records.

Links:

Official | Facebook | BandCamp

Interview with Ian Graham from THE WELL

The Well is a power trio from Austin, Texas, and if you dig psychedelic doom stuff with occult rock, a little bit of a retro vibe and female vocals, then you probably already know them.

Two years have passed since Riding Easy released their debut album “Samsara”, I decide to trough if The Well have something new and fresh. Ian Graham (guitars, vocals) agreed to share small portion of information.

Hi Ian! How are you? What's going on in The Well?

Hello! We’re good - just finished up at the studio and are starting to get all the pieces in place for the release of Pagan Science, our second album on Riding Easy Records - photos, music videos, artwork, new merch. All the visuals to go along with the music.

You already announced that the record of new album goes on full speed. What is your progress now?

Yep! Just wrapped in the studio. We’re sending off the masters on Monday.

How does the new album record session go? How much time usually do you need to finish the song? Do you have “difficult” and “easy” tracks?

It’s hard to call a song “finished” usually; there are always little changes and nuances that are added or subtracted as we continue to gig them after recording, but as far as the recorded songs, it definitely depends. Some took months to finish and were polished in pre-production, while a lot of them were pretty much just riffs when we went into the studio and came to life as we started the tape.

Will the new album differ from “Samsara” both in musical and lyrical sense?

It’s still us, but with more density. It’s big. It’s hypnotic. It’s heavy as hell. Samsara was our first album, so a lot of the tracks were songs we’d already played in our set numerous times, and therefore it has a very live feel. Writing Pagan Science with the studio in mind allowed for more of a plan alongside more room for experimentation.

The Well – Mortal Bones

What are your plans consider album's release? Do you already have certain dates and label?

We’re looking at an October release with Riding Easy Records.

When “Samsara” was released, it turned to be a popular or at least recognizable album pretty soon, I guess that it gained good reputation to The Well. How do you see this stuff now? What are its strongest points?

Samsara will always be close to our hearts as those songs were our first steps together as a band. Our babies. We’re grateful that its positive reception has allowed us to continue to tour and record and spread our music to a wider audience.

When the band plays psychedelic stoner doom music with female vocals some people and media tend to label such groups with “occult doom rock”. What do you think about it?

Ha. I’m into it.

Such music usually deals with topics like drugs, Satan and evil in general. Do you share the love to these images?

I’m interested in those subjects for sure… drugs and the occult. However, I think that all of these specifics are just symbols for a general dissent with popular culture or the mainstream. I don’t believe in evil, and I don’t believe in good. Any absolutes on a moral level can be construed completely differently if the perspective is flipped. I’ve been interested in mind alteration since I was a child. But aside from drugs, information is another conscious altering tool that I focus on.

The Well do gigs here and there in USA, how many states did you already cover? How often do you play?

We’ve hit up most of them at this point, but can’t wait to see them all again and add some new ones when we hit it again this fall in support of the album.

Ian, you took part in kickstarter company for Planet of Doom, what is this project about?

It’s an animated film that highlights art and music in the doom scene, much in the vein of the 1980s Heavy Metal. Curated and written by talented artist, David Paul Seymour, we’re excited to be a part of it.

Words by Aleks Evdokimov and Ian Graham.

Links:

http://www.thewellband.com/

https://www.facebook.com/thewellband

https://thewellaustin.bandcamp.com/