I don’t know if it’s just the after effects of something I might have eaten in the mid-1990s but I’m always on the look-out for music that can melt me into the sofa. Generally speaking, the heavier and the more psychedelic the happier I will be. Doom and drone (and this is not really quite either of those by the way but if that’s your bag then definitely stick with me) both contain in them the basic ingredients for something that is truly progressive and expansive. More and more bands seem to be trying to tap into that with varying degrees of success. The best of them have an uncanny habit of laying you flat out (for that is the position I’m normally in when I start listening to them) and then taking you off through unknown means in a direction you never knew existed. Down the rabbit hole I suppose you might say. And it can have some odd effects on the mind. The best drone music can have you thinking all sorts of weird and wonderful things. Altaar’s self-titled, two track album lasts 35 minutes but every time I listen to it I would swear its over in half that time. There is something very strange going on here and I promise you I never touch the stuff anymore.
The first of these two mind-bending tracks is firmly embedded in doom but with an experimental twist that shift seamlessly between the three or four parts of the track. No vocals and its heavy and dark as a cauldron full of tar but often intense, warm and exhilarating at the same time. When the vocals (somewhere between black metal and stoner doom) do arrive during a surge of sound part way through the second track the power is almost physically palpable. It’s over before you know it and the only annoying think about this is that I would ideally want it to be twice as long as it is. I suppose we might regard it as experimental but that would suggest it is challenging or trying to be overly clever. But I don’t think Altaar wants to impress you in that way or make you feel like you’ve found the answers, necessarily. They are just fairly certain the journey they’ll take you on is better than the past 20 or 30 sad and lonely years you lived your pathetic life before you discovered Altaar. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Apparently this was a year in the making and at first I found that surprising given its length and apparent simplicity. But I think that is to underestimate what’s at work. There is most definitely something rather excellent going on here and I cannot recommend it enough. So if losing your mind in the music is your bag then stick your head into this and try to remember who to thank later.
(9/10 Reverend Darkstanley)
Leave a Reply