Desert Psychlist has to admit to knowing nothing whatsoever about French psych/doom outfit πππ as we only recently become aware of their existence via a recommendation from fellow Doom Charts contributor Kyle SB, but after hearing their highly impressive debut album "Bloodstained" we are keen to learn more, as we think you will be too.
Although the band describe themselves as a psych-doom trio there can also be found within their music elements and textures of both drone and post metal, as well some we will talk about later, and this is something that becomes particular evident right from the off with opening number "Children Of The Night", a song that does not follow any of the usual rules associated with doom and psych. Granted it does have crunchy reverberating guitar refrains, a bottom dwelling bass sound and thunderous drumming but what surrounds that instrumentation is quite un-doom like clean vocal ethereality and an undercurrent of spacious droning swirliness. "Zombi", the following track, is just as delightfully confusing as its predecessor, the guitar and bass tones are most definitely doomic in flavour, as is the pounding percussion, but this is a skewered sort of doom we are hearing here, a dark and seductive form of the genre that draws as much from late 70's UK goth as it does from present day doom. Third song "Inquisitor" finds πππ ramping up the atmospherics with slightly more aggressive and somewhat bluesy dynamics supporting an equally more aggressive vocal while "Rabid Hole" starts its life eerie and gothic but slowly builds, layer by layer, into a dark and atmospheric torch song decorated with a suitably matching vocal dynamic. For their penultimate track πππ go all in on the doom, no toying with elements of post-metal, goth or psych here just thunderous rhythms, searing solos and whole lot of dank, dark riffage. Closing song "Mourning Star" sees πππ putting all their musical eggs in one basket by subtlety weaving all the elements they've toyed with previously into one final hurrah, the band taking a swaggering and atmospheric ride into the sunset that they will hopefully ride back from one day with a whole new set of darkly delicious songs.
πππ's debut release may not be the sort of album that will have doom's traditionalists slavering at the mouth but for those of us who like to see an element of risk taking and disconformity in our doom then you could not ask for a better collection of songs than those gracing "Bloodstained".
Check it out ....
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