Conjurer (GBR) - Páthos (2022)^{Release ID: 38012}

I am far more forgiving towards Doom metal's stepbrother, Sludge metal. And in theory it makes a lot of sense why: why not combine the excellent songwriting capabilities of Doom with the exceeding aggression of thrash and hardcore punk? It's like a dream come true! Furthermore, the introduction of atmospheric sludge metal with bands like Neurosis and ISIS are huge influences in the bands that I enjoy, but even the more traditional stuff; from the Melvins and early Mastodon are excellent.

So it was nice to hear from a sludge metal band who were not about to take me on an hour long post-metal trip. But man was I not expecting this. Sure it still sounds very atmospheric; riffs such as "Those Years, Condemned" sound taken right out of a blackgaze handbook. but interspersed among doom and post-metal passages are quasi metalcore breakdowns! I cannot say I am fully surprised by this since -core has found its way into many styles of metal in recent years, especially with its current Djent revival. 

Compositionally, Páthos is a progressive album with all of its style changes, but it somehow manages to keep a consistent flow all through the album. It's heaviest moments are given delicate preparation before the tremolo picking guitars, howling vocals and double bass/blast beat percussion take over. The breakdowns do not sound that far removed from the original riffage; really only diverging by replacing long sustained guitar chords with palm muted ones. The only truly striking moment was the clean vocals on "All You Will Remember". These harsh vocals are hellish, especially the highs, so bringing the album back down to earth with clean singing was a nice touch...only for the band to never return to them. These softer post-rock sections on "In Your Wake" would make excellent vocal breaks instead of becoming texture pieces.

This is the kind of doom metal album that I could vibe to unironically and enjoy immensely. However, the metalcore influences does bring its fair share of production issues. It is not worth it to go through them all, but the biggest culprits are an unhealthy dose of overproduced double kick pedals, a less than flattering low end in the form of guitars doubling bass lines instead of instrumental independence, and some less than impressive breakdowns in general. I guess they sound fine in the context of each individual piece, but throw away the progressive songwriting and uncommon time signatures during the breakdowns and its a typical 5-7-8 riff.

This record reminds me of 2018's Iris by Canadian death doom band Altars of Grief. Both are in genres that I frequent and enjoy and each has a unique sound to them that separates themselves from contemporaries. But they are both held back by production choices that have been brought over from a previous influence. While it is still unclear what will happen to my fellow countrymen in Altars of Grief, Conjurer will more than suffice to quench my thirst for progressive doom metal.

Best Tracks: It Dwells, All You Will Remember, Those Years, Condemned, Cracks in the Pyre