Month: March 2015

From the always active Spanish label Xtreem Music comes the debut album of Famishgod. Unlike many of the last releases coming from the Iberian peninsula in the doom field in recent times, the band leans decidedly towards the funeral or, at least, towards a death doom with bare and morbid traits, in the wake of names such as Encoffinaton and Disembowelment or, remaining on a slightly more listenable level, Evoken. It seems obvious, therefore, how much all this makes the disc anything but of immediate impact, but at the same time dangerously enveloping, even in its dark and suffocating atmospheres. Famishgod is actually the project of Pako Deimler, who takes care of all the instruments except the drums, which is entrusted to a machine, while the voice is the well-known Dave Rotten of the great Avulsed. A poor production, Dave’s inhuman snarl, an almost total absence of any glimmer of light, except for the occasional acoustic concessions by Pako, are the factors that make Devourers Of Light a work for beginners, or fans who are familiar with sounds of this type. They will surely get the right amount of pleasure from the obsessive plots proposed by the mephitic duo during an hour of music of rare heaviness, but with a depth that makes listening a special experience. Minimal and blunt, the sound of Famishgod has a really suffocating effect and even more stand out, therefore, those rare moments when the guitar traces some melodic line that, never as in this case, is equivalent to nothing more than a palliative care for a dying man. In this sense, the best songs are represented by the central couple Black Eye / Premature Grave, just because they are the only ones that can be assimilated without necessarily resorting to the mouthpiece of oxygen, thanks to a dry but effective guitar work. As I said, I would recommend to leave it a priori to those who, at the mere mention of the word doom, is put on the defensive, while those who enjoy this poisonous addiction, Devourers Of Light could reserve not a few satisfactions.

2014 – Xtreem Music