Fostermother - The Ocean (2022)^{Release ID: 36591}

The Ocean is Texans Fostermother's second full-length and my first exposure to the band. The trio play a stonerised doom metal that has become exceedingly familiar over recent times, to such an extent that I was initially underwhelmed by The Ocean, at least until I got to the title track that is, which was the point where my ears picked up and I thought that maybe here was something worth more attention here. There isn't anything here you haven't heard before, but there are some decent doom riffs with a nice beefy tone to the guitar sound, the rhythm section is pretty solid with a fairly pronounced bass presence. Guitarist Travis Weatherred handles vocals and they are fairly functional, sounding not unlike Ghost's Tobias Forge. All in all a solid slab of stoner doom that is back-loaded with the stronger material in the second half, The Ocean and Redeemer being the pick of the tracks for my money.