Thursday 27 June 2024

MELTEM ~ MARE NOSTRUM .... review


Catalonian doomsters MELTEM might not be a familiar name to many out there but some of you, especially those who have a finger placed firmly on the pulse of the Spanish "underground" scene, may recognise one of the names to be found among the bands line up. Pep Carabante has provided drums for Cuzo, The Mothercrow and Wolfhead among others and with MELTEM he adds vocals and darbuka to his list of attributes. Carabante is joined in MELTEM by Daniel Pozuelo (guitar/effects) and David Giménez (electric bass and 12-string guitar) and for this, their debut, have percussionist Omar Katan guesting on daf/Iranian daf and second darbuka. Despite their use of crunching chord progressions and thunderous rhythms MELTEM's sound is not what you could call archetypical doom, sure it is dark dank and heavy but its underlying eastern influences and Gregorian like vocal intonations often sees MELTEM's music heading down paths other doom bands rarely travel, something you can discover for yourselves by giving their debut album "Mare Nostrum" (Discos Macarras Records) a spin.


Opening number "Tretze" opens with all the usual doomic bluster we expect from the genre but then in come the vocals and any expectations you may have had of hearing gothic operatics or guttural harshness are dashed against the wall, what you get instead are rich deep tones with Gregorian overtones, the song giving the listener a feeling that what they are listening to is a re-enactment of some deeply religious rite. Following track "Curcuna", an instrumental, finds MELTEM diving deep into their roots with traditional and modern percussion forming a platform for swirling guitar textures and colours that take their influences from the many cultures that border the Mediterranean Sea, that particular stretch of water serving as the theme this whole album is based around. "Mandraga" rears its head next, the song kicks off quite gnarly and aggressive in its first quarter but then settles down into a spacious and trippy lysergic laced groove before a sudden return to gnarliness announces the arrival of the vocals which again are more incanted than sang, the music surrounding those vocals a mix of heavy western doom and exotic eastern psych. Final track "Oasi" sees guest musician Omar Katan showing just why he is such a highly regarded percussionist, his hands, plus those of Carabante, beat out an impressive array of rhythms for Pozuelo and Giménez to decorate with subtle guitar/bass colourings and textures that take their influences from the more eastern reaches of the Mediterranean as well as reflecting the Moorish elements of Spain's past.


Bands that strive to create a perfect balance between doom and heavy psych often find the music they make either leans too far one way or the other and never quite finds that ideal middle ground where the two musical styles meet on an equal footing. This is not the case here, with "Mare Nostrum" MELTEM have made an album truly deserving of the term "psychedelic doom"
Check it out .... 

© 2024 Frazer Jones

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