Assumption - Hadean Tides (2022)Release ID: 38195
Despite forming in 2011 as a duo consisting of drummer David Lucido and multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Giorgio Trombino, this is only Italian death doom outfit Assumption's second full-length, following 2018's Absconditus. Since the release of the debut the pair have rounded out their lineup by adding permanent bassist Claudio Troise and second guitarist Matija Dolinar to share the six-string workload with Giorgio. I think this is a good move, for while I respect multi-instrumentalists, I feel the full band dynamic nearly always works better.
A large proportion of Hadean Tides takes the form of funereally-paced death doom in the vein of bands such as the mighty Evoken with huge, crushing, glacially-paced riffs and Giorgio's impressive deep growls providing the vocal counterpoint. The pacing isn't monolithic though and the band will often break into an Incantation-like killer death metal riff to get the old noggin nodding or a quicker-paced doom section in the vein of a band like Coffins.
Of course, staying true to the idiosynchratic nature of Italian doom metal, the band throw in a couple of curveballs. First off, set in the very heart of the album is a six-minute ambient piece, Breath of the Dedalus, that sounds like it would be better-suited to a cosmic black metal album from the likes of Mesarthim or Mare Cognitum than a death doom release, yet here it sits like a black hole acting as an axis around which the rest of the album rotates... and somehow it works. The other, and possibly even more jarring curveball comes in the form of my favourite, the penultimate track, Triptych. It starts off weirdly with a lone bass line and Giorgio speaking the lyrics making it feel like a Doors track, in fact the whole song feels a bit like a death metal version of The End, with a similarly uncomfortable atmosphere to it and an even more dense and impenetrable lyrical content. Eventually it resolves itself into a classy, heaving death doom riff that is sustained for a short while after which it returns to the disturbing spoken-word approach of the earlier part before exploding into an all-out death metal blast which you can certainly imagine being accompanied by images of a water buffalo beheading! The tracks are generally shorter than on the debut (although the album overall is much longer) all except the closer, the fifteen-minute Black Trees Waving, which begins in funereal style, but which resolves into a great riff with some decent soloing whilst taking a couple of twists and turns along the way including a croaking clean vocal section.
Overall, Assumption take a tried-and-tested formula and reproduce it very convincingly whilst adding in just enough originality to assert their own identity and hopefully prevent themselves from getting lost in the avalanche of metal albums hitting the metaphorical shelves. It is one of those albums that should certainly make ears prick up, for good or ill, when heard. On the downside, I'm not sure why, but I don't hear a huge amount of emotion or menace invested in it (something the aforementioned Evoken could certainly teach them about) and as such it does have a bit of a cold and sterile feel to it. However, I did find myself being drawn back to it's siren call several times and it did hold my interest with it's sometimes unpredictable structure, so I think I must label it a success.
