AGANOOR ~ DOOMERISM ..... review

We at Desert Psychlist will readily hold our hands up and admit to inventing words to describe sounds and dynamics in our reviews, we have used words like "doomic", "doominosity", "fuzzilicious" and "protoic" with regularity yet have, to date, never had the grammar police screaming for our heads or demanding we attend English language classes and that is because those spliced together words actually work in the contexts in which they are set and the people who read those words understand exactly what we mean and are trying to convey. Now when we saw that Italian outfit Aganoor, Dan Ghostrider (vocals); Anth Maelstrom (guitars); Stephen Drive (bass) and Alex Leonov (drums), were releasing an album going by the title "Doomerism"  (My Kingdom Music / BloodRock Records) we immediately thought they were playing us at our own game but it turns out that "doomerism" is a bona-fide word that refers to "a belief or mindset characterized by a negative outlook on the future" which given that the bands music is pitched at the, notoriously bleak, grungier end of the doom spectrum seems quite apt.

We at The Psychlist do love a tune that hits hard right from the get go and that is the case with opening number "Bury My Soul", there is no rambling intro to contend with here the band just explode straight into the main riff and away they go with guitars dialled to thrumming and crunchy and drums set to solid and thunderous, the vocals accompanying this dark cacophony of grungy doom groove delivered in gravelled throaty tones that, to these ears, carry just the merest hint of a southern metal drawl in their make up. "Icarus", just like its predecessor, also starts right out of the gate and like so many bands before them, and the many that will no doubt follow after them, Aganoor use that old Sabbath trick of never using one riff or tempo when you can use two or three, the band applying a similar formula to the songs vocals which are a mix of throaty growliness and clean melodic grittiness. Third song on the album "Nadir" sees Aganoor dipping their toes in stoner-doomic waters, the band keeping things low slow'n'heavy for the most part with only occasional climbs into more strident dynamics, the vocals here are delivered melancholic and wearied and are given added weight thanks to some well arranged lilting backing harmonies. "Emerald Lake" is a hard song to describe, it has the feel of both a ballad and a lament but is not really either, we suppose some might call it a torch song but torch songs usually build to a crescendo and this doesn't. If the push came to the shove, and taking into account its low crooned vocals and mournful droning guitar textures, we guess "grungy doomic Americana" would be the best way to describe this dark little gem. Next up Aganoor deliver "Morbid Skin", a song that musically sits in that hinterland between traditional doom and proto-doom, the song boasts a deliciously devilish vocal melody that is both swinging and sinister, if Desert Psychlist were to be asked to recommend an Aganoor song to be played on a rock radio station or a podcast then this would be the one we would choose . Aganoor close things out with "Mind Shadowing" a song that sees the band putting all their musical apples in one basket, sludgy grunginess and doomic dankness all wrapped up with elements borrowed from the genres of stoner rock and heavy psych and neatly tied off with a strong and soulful vocal, a fittingly outstanding curtain closer to what we think is a pretty damn outstanding album.

Despite containing the word "doom" in its title Aganoor's "Doomerism" is not what you would call a dyed in the wool doom album, there are shades and textures to be found in this albums songs that are drawn from the full spectrum of rock's rich tapestry, some of those shades and textures are glaringly obvious some subtle and it is this blending of the subtle with the obvious that makes "Doomerism" such a rewarding listen. 

Check it out ....    

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