By Monk
They say that good things come to those who wait, and those of us who have followed Armagh antagonists Astralnaut for nigh on a decade definitely have had to wait more than a few hot minutes for this debut full-length offering. Well, the band had been on an extended hiatus for a little over half that period, before re-emerging with a revitalized line-up and exploding back into the limelight, grabbing this year’s Bloodstock Metal 2 The Masses competition by the throat, giving it a damn good hiding and bulldozing their way through to the final battle… so, what better way to build on that momentum than by finally letting the wider Überverse in on the secret that those of us in the know have been privy to for all these years?
Kicking off with the already released lead single, ‘Tipping Point’, Astralnaut immediately let us into the secret of their formula: and that is huge, crushing riffs powerful enough to sink the Titanic just by glancing at it and simultaneously take the iceberg down to the depths, combining the dankest, darkest aspects of doom with the most curmudgeonly elements of sludge: and there is enough of the latter in here to keep those tasked with dredging the River Lagan in work 24/7 for at least a decade.
The band do chuck a few surprise curveballs into the mix. Not only does ‘Adrift’ feature a beautifully intertwined and atmospherically harmonic female co-vocal, but Thomas even braves a brief attempt at rap, while ‘Plebicide’ has an almost NWoCR-style vibe to it, especially in the guitar lines and solo. And the end section of ‘The Veil’ definitely would not sound out of place on an Amon Amarth album. Then there is the flamenco/jazz breakdown in the midst of the otherwise dense and winding ‘White Feather’…
Overall, this long-awaited full-length debut has been worth the years of anticipation, proving that patience is indeed a virtue as the beys have patiently and diligently crafted a hugely impressive album, one filled with complex themes, twists and turns but delivered with a simplicity of intent that is fulfilled on every level, from the unexpected interventions mentioned above to the absolutely . huge ‘Husk’ and the fiercesome NOLA-infused duotych of ‘Confederate’.
I’m not going to draw any comparators, but if you like you doom with plenty of sludge, and your sludge mixed with tonnes of doom, with some huge hummable harmonies and memorable melodies thrown in, then this is right up your blackened alley.
- ‘Astralnaut‘ is out now.
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