If there is one thing we at Desert Psychlist like above all else it is bands who dare to be different but don't overplay their hand by trying to be so different that they become unlistenable. Athens, Greece outfit Hariessa, Theodoros Kaparelos (guitar/vocals); Panagiotis Syrios (bass/vocals) and Panagiotis Markopoulos (drums), are one such band, there are no straight lines to Hariessa's grooves, the music this band make together may have its roots in heaviness but it is a jagged and unpredictable heaviness interspersed with glorious "what the fuck" moments, the only rules this band adhere to are those they make up themselves, as you will discover for yourselves when checking out their debut "The World Undying".
The weirdness that Hariessa brings to the table is no more evident than on opening track "They Didn't Git Him Pt.1", a maelstrom of whirling noises, electronic buzzes and bleeps surround a parping, honking saxophone before things return to some semblance of normality with a simple drum and bass pattern, but even this is surrounded by high droning post-rock guitar textures. Next out of the bag is "Lakes of Molten Glass" and here we find the band grooving on a delicious heavy proto-doom/stoner metal groove over which powerful clean vocals wail their message, nothing however is straightforward in Hariessa's world and its not long before we find ourselves entrenched in prog/psych territory with wailing blues tinted guitar leading us to a space rock like fade out. Things get a little blackened for next track "A Rightful Death" with harsh guttural vocal tones growled over a chugging Sabbathian flavoured groove tinted with prog-metal complexity, most bands would have been content to end a song like this in much the same fashion that they started it but Hariessa are not like most bands and so instead of a crunching gnarly finale we get spaced out heady ambience, an ambience that also serves as the introduction to title track "The World Undying" a stunning Floydian flavoured opus that utilizes a mix of harsh and clean vocals to decorate its spacious grooves. "Duh Fuh" follows and finds Hariessa blending the Floydian textures of the previous track with elements of heavy sludge and blackened doom, the songs vocals once again a mix of clean melodies and guttural roars. If you were expecting something epic to close out this mind-blowingly diverse album then you might be disappointed to find that "They Didn't Git Him Pt.2" is not quite that, if however you get off on weird mixes of traditional music and spaghetti western soundtracks then this song will be right up your alley.
Hariessa describe themselves as a stoner doom/heavy psych outfit but one listen to "The World Undying" will tell you they are so much more than just that, Hariessa's sound is not just low slung riffage tinted with lysergic colouration it is a sound that also employs elements of the avant-garde, space and post-rock, an unorthodox sometimes challenging sound that at first will confuse you but will with time eventually seduce you.
Check it out ...
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