Three-piece Finnish doom dealers ALTAR OF BETELGEUZE have made a thunderous albeit gloomy return with third album Echoes. Their second album Among The Ruins saw the band tinkering with a stoner-doom style. However, album number three has the trio distilling a far darker doom atmosphere, combining more cavernous vocals and memorable riffs into a seven-track beast quite different from its predecessor. With a blend of death-doom and more traditional doom at its core, Echoes is a powerful, ominous statement.
On The Verge blows the speakers wide open with a huge sound. Crashing chords and powerful drums combine while a steady rumbling bassline underpins the intro. It’s the sort of doom sound that conjures imagery of a lumbering behemoth making its way inexorably towards an unknown destination. All we know is that nothing can stop it. Then the vocals come in, colossal gutturals matching the instrumentation and rounding out the all-encapsulating doom atmosphere. From track one, it’s clear that the three-piece are not here to mess about – this is a commanding statement of intent.
With an imperious sound now firmly established, Echoes settles into a groove that illustrates how ALTAR OF BETELGEUZE have refined their sound. Shedding any aspect of stoner rock and clean vocals, they’ve embraced a darker path and while melody is still key to the movements of their songwriting, the heavyweight riffs and rhythms are now more prevalent and drive the sound like a swinging sledgehammer drives through a soft wall. Embrace The Flames is a pummelling track with a tone worthy of allowing the trio to be placed alongside some of the greatest doom peddlers of all time, yet the vocals offer up some enticing death-doom edge which allows the whole track to lift from a potential ponderous fate. The driving hooks are energetic and dynamic and all the elements combine creating a sonic splendour.
A Reflection is a bludgeoning, bruiser of a track with a downtempo groove that is propelled by the huge chord progression. Once again, the tone is thick and enthralling – courtesy of the immaculate production. Despite its apparent blundering tonality, with lumbering like riff structure, there is a remarkable hook contained at the heart of the music that entices further listens.
With careful consideration given to both lyrical constructions as well as the wider songwriting of the instrumentation dynamics, ALTAR OF BETELGEUZE have successfully navigated the path of sludgy, death-doom inspired music without any element becoming ponderous or bogged down. This is a pitfall that may artists can come undone; while hunting for the texture and feel of a darker doomy sound, they can become ensnared in the details, losing sight of song direction and getting mired in the swamp. Echoes elevates itself above this, using elements already described as well as focusing its creativity on what makes doom great. Salvation offers a nice departure from what has gone before with the vocals allowed to soar higher in the mix. While still a part of the wider album stylistically, the dynamic shift elevates the sound from an already good level to a great one.
Echoes is an album for fans of death-doom, traditional doom and anyone looking to add greater weight and depth to their record collection. It’s a departure from the band’s previously established sound, but rather than being a reinvention, is a sonic evolution into a darker depth of doom. ALTAR OF BETELGEUZE have developed a catchy and melodic album that has the titanic rhythmic heart of a colossus. It is enticing, crushing and memorable, successfully bridging the gap between traditional doom and death-doom styles.
Rating: 9/10
Echoes is out now via Wiseblood Records.
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