20.30u / sludge doom  / stoner doom / €10,-

Daevar

DAEVAR are here to shake up the stoner/doom-metal scene with a menacing lo-fi sound and a fresh set ideals. Fronted by the enigmatic Pardis (bass, vocals) and completed by Caspar (guitars) and Moritz (drums), DAEVAR serve up moody anthems inspired by what really happens in the world, rather than singing about the sweetness of the leaf or spreading eternal gloom. The young trio from Cologne have recorded five atmospheric slow-burners at Hidden Planet Studios with Jan Oberg, who oversaw production and helped the band create a deceptively complex sound. Washed in an ocean of crunchy fuzz, Delirious Rites drowns the listener in a raw conflation of gritty textures and exalting melodies.

Album opener «Slowshine» is an astonishingly raw punch to the ears, ripping open the carefully produced atmospheric opening with the crushing sound of bass and guitar merging together in a haze of lo-finesse. «Leviathan» gives further insight in the intricacy of the DAEVAR sound, opening with a lone crusty guitar glued together by feedback to elementary tribal drumming of Moritz. Then, like flesh enfolding the talons of an eagle, like a hand clenching the hilt of sharpened sword, the fuzzy bass grips around the raw and gritty guitar, reinforcing it and rendering it powerful.

Driven by this punchy guitar and bass-combination, DAEVAR plough through five moody stoner-doom anthems dissecting consequential themes like enforced disappearance, sleep paralysis and female empowerment. The depth of Delirious Rites is ready to unfold itself with songs inspired by the work of political philosopher Thomas Hobbes and quotations from Iranian psychedelic rock anthems from the 70s. Somewhere between Sleep and Paradise Lost this mysterious trio have found a pocket that is completely their own. Like a transmission through the snowy static, like a ghost through the wire, Delirious Rites sees the mysterious hand of DAEVAR reach out to grip the soul of whomever is ripe for the taking.

Gavran

Soul searching doom/sludge from Rotterdam (NL)